


The 100 - Reimagined

by Iz_Queer (Supergirl_Lover96)



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Canon Rewrite, Canon Universe, Clarke Griffin & Raven Reyes are Best Friends, Clexa, Endgame Clarke Griffin/Lexa, Eventual Smut, F/F, Finn Collins Being an Asshole, Jealous Lexa (The 100), Slow Burn Clarke Griffin/Lexa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:14:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 32,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27340303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Supergirl_Lover96/pseuds/Iz_Queer
Summary: As I started rewatching The 100 from the start for the 8th time, I had a random thought for a plot change back in season 1. What if, when Anya takes Finn and Clarke and tries to manipulate Clarke into saving her second... What if that offer the grounder spoke of about Clarke being a healer and their village needing one... What if that was a thing? What if even after Clarke fails, the offer still stands because she’d showed true potential and maybe they’d been watching her since the beginning? What if Clarke took that offer? How would that simple choice drastically change the story? Well, that was too many ‘what ifs’ for me to not give the fic a try. And so “The 100 - Reimagined” was born.The first few chapters are a lot of world-building. I had some other changes I wanted to make right off that bat before even getting to the scene that served as a spark of inspiration. A few things to note: Clexa is and always will be endgame. Clarke & Raven have a more dynamic friendship in this story. It may seem at times that I’m going in the direction of pairing them as a couple, especially at the start, but I assure you that they will ultimately remain the best of friends.
Relationships: Anya & Lexa (The 100), Bellamy Blake & Clarke Griffin, Clarke Griffin & Raven Reyes, Clarke Griffin/Lexa, Octavia Blake & Clarke Griffin, Octavia Blake & Clarke Griffin & Raven Reyes, Octavia Blake & Indra, Octavia Blake/Lincoln
Comments: 58
Kudos: 192





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I plan on posting one chapter a week. I’m by no means finished with this fic at this time, and I will give the disclaimer that sometimes life takes unexpected turns. That being said, if all of the sudden a few weeks pass between updates, please be patient. Subscribe to get the email notifications of new chapters and trust me when I say that this is a story I plan to see through until the end.
> 
> Huge THANK YOU to my beta reader Susan. No matter how often I seem to fall off the face of the earth, they are always there to proof, edit, and motivate when I resurface. Thank you! 
> 
> Kudos and Comments are always appreciated. I hope you enjoy this REIMAGINED world of The 100 as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.

The breeze ghosted through the tips of the trees surrounding the clearing. Birds that were no more than black specks in the clear blue sky soared overhead, their chirps echoing through the warmth of the midday air. There was so much green. Life was teeming in the most unimaginable of ways. Blessed with an artistic eye, she was able to see how truly beautiful the earth was. But even the miracle of the surrounding world wasn’t enough to blind her. At least not anymore. Clarke was sick of it all.

It had been 14 days since the 100 had landed on a shockingly survivable earth. 2 weeks since the Ark had sent them all down to what was assumed would be their deaths. Finding the ground to be free of deadly radiation and themselves free of the Ark’s merciless justice should have been cause for celebration. Relief. Joy. And for about the first 5 minutes Clarke felt all those things. And then reality set in.

No rations. No water source. Scraps from the dropship for shelter. And 100 kids all with varying levels of a questionable moral code. Add into the mix Bellamy and the gun he mysteriously had in his possession and Clarke really hadn’t seen how things could get much worse. But worse they had gotten.

One spear to the heart later and the 100 learned they weren’t alone. 

Since that moment, Clarke had been doing everything she could just to keep herself, and those who would listen, alive. It was no easy task, especially with the eldest Blake around. The number of kids who still gave a damn what she said or thought was dwindling every day.

The wristbands that Bellamy hadn’t coerced off were all fried. The Ark would believe them all to be dead and conclude the ground was not survivable. There would be no one coming down to help them. Raven had tried to salvage the radio, but it was no use, even with Monty’s help. It was beyond repair. Just another notch in Bellamy’s belt of fuck ups.

Clarke ground her teeth as she listened to the voices of the small group she was with echoing through the trees around her. They were trying to scrounge for roots and berries to boost the dwindling food supply. Dwindling, she supposed, was putting it lightly. What little meat they had been trying to preserve had gone up in flames the night before when a drunk and always angry Murphy had shoved one of the other boys into a torch. The flames had spread faster than anyone could stop them, and by the time her yelling had gotten people working together to throw water at the blaze, it was too late. The hut with their rations was nothing but a pile of burnt ruins.

Bellamy had, of course, been no help. He was just as drunk as Murphy. Ever since Octavia had gone missing he was wasted more than he was sober. Clarke tried to sympathize at first, knowing how much his sister meant to him. But as the camp descended further and further into chaos, she was finding it harder and harder to cut him any slack. Too much rope only allowed someone to hang themselves after all. 

Clarke’s eyes flew open at that thought. She hadn’t even realized she’d closed them. Exhaustion had long since seeped deep into her bones. She doubted she would feel truly rested ever again. But thoughts of rope and hanging certainly weren’t going to help anything. Not after Wells.

The truth had just come out. Or rather, she had finally allowed herself to acknowledge what she had deep down always known was the truth. Wells hadn’t been the reason behind Jaha finding out about her father’s plans. He wasn’t the one who couldn’t keep a secret. Clarke’s own mother was the reason why she had watched as her father was floated.

Wells had let her blame him to spare her from that horrible truth. She’d hated him. Had done everything she could to tear him apart with her words in the hope of inflicting even a fraction of the pain that she felt onto him. And he had forgiven her. The ground, with all its unknown dangers, pushed the truth to be revealed, acknowledged, and reconciled. Clarke’s one solace in a seemingly never-ending string of catastrophes that plagued the 100 was getting her best friend back. And then he was gone.

The night Monty accidentally fried the remaining wristbands, Clarke hadn’t been in the camp. She had gone off on her own to clear her mind after another blowout with Finn. The acid fog had descended and she was forced to hide out in an old, mostly buried automobile. She was trapped there for a day and then had gotten lost for another after the fog had cleared. By the time she returned to camp, it was too late. 

With the wristbands gone, Wells knew that his father believed him to be dead and no one was coming down. Everyone on the Ark would die from the malfunction Clarke’s own father had discovered. And in the wake of that, Clarke’s disappearance led to the presumption that she was dead. Caught in the acid fog and never coming back. Wells found a length of rope and a tree outside of the camp walls. He believed he’d lost the only people he ever loved. 

There wasn’t time to properly mourn. The constant threat of all of their imminent deaths kept Clarke plenty distracted. But the pain refused to fade. It was a sharp yet jagged spear to her own heart anytime the thought of her best friend crossed her mind. 

Shaking her head in an attempt to clear the thoughts away, Clarke scanned the clearing she was standing in. It was small and allowed her to peer through the surrounding forest in order to keep an eye on those she was with. After counting twice to make sure everyone was still accounted for, she let her eyes drift up to the tree line. Grounders seemed to love attacking from above and she wasn’t about to let one of them get the drop on the few people left in the 100 that she actually could stand to be around. 

Not seeing or sensing any immediate danger, Clarke let her thoughts drift once more. If she was being honest with herself, she hated how quickly the ground had made her jaded. But with everything that had happened in such a short amount of time, she supposed it wasn’t altogether surprising. She caught a glimpse of Raven as the brunette moved to smack the leaves Monty had been about to eat out of the boy’s hands. She almost smiled at his antics. Even in all the craziness, he was still set on finding a plant that would get them all high.

Raven glanced towards her and rolled her eyes before returning to the bush she had been collecting berries from. Their friendship was new and highly unanticipated. Clarke wasn’t sure how it had happened, but she thought it best to not question it. Out of everyone who remained alive, Raven was one of the only people left who Clarke actually liked. She could say that she had Finn to thank for that, but she wasn’t willing to give the boy any credit, whether due or not.

He was the reason that 2 of their group had gotten out of their seats on the drop, resulting in their deaths upon re-entry. Somehow, he had survived it. But rather than let that serve as a humbling moment, Finn had immediately begun to flirt with just about every girl in the group. Apparently having a girlfriend on the Ark didn’t hold any weight on his conscience. He’d set his sights on Clarke by the end of day 3. At first, she tried the subtle approach in fending off his advances, but that did little to deter him. Even her blunt rejection method wasn’t enough. He had been convinced that she would succumb to his charm. Raven crash landing in a pod ended up being her saving grace. 

Clarke had just barely missed beating Bellamy to the crash site. Of course, by the time she did get there, he was long gone with the radio and had left an unconscious and bleeding Raven behind. Clarke had no idea who the brunette-haired girl was, but the healer in her wouldn’t allow her to just leave her for dead the way the eldest Blake so callously had. She had carefully gotten her out of the still slightly smoking craft and did her best to patch up her head laceration. By the time Raven had come around it was almost dark. Thinking back to their first conversation, Clarke couldn’t help but cast her gaze back through the trees where Raven was still gathering food and smile at the sight of the person she was now closest to. 

_Clarke’s eyes snapped back over to the stranger as the girl gave a groan, her eyelids fluttering._

_“Easy there. You’re okay.” Clarke tried to keep her voice as soothing as possible, a trick she had picked up from her time spent helping her mother with patients in medical back up on the Ark._

_The brunette finally managed to fully open her eyes and lock onto Clarke kneeling next to her. Her gaze, however, didn’t stay on the blonde for long. The sky above her was darkening, but there was still enough light around them for her to make out the trees surrounding them. She could feel the slight breeze cooling her skin and the grass beneath her fingertips. The sounds of real, living nature echoed around them. She must have let out an audible gasp as she took it all in. The blonde next to her chuckled at the look of awe on her face._

_“Welcome to the ground. Enjoy the beauty while you can.”_

_Raven regretfully tore her gaze from trying to soak in everything around her to raise an eyebrow at the blue-eyed girl next to her. That comment was a serious blow to the amazement she was feeling at having survived the freefall to Earth._

_Wait a minute… blonde, blue eyes, and altogether too serious…_

_“Clarke? Clarke Griffin?”_

_Clarke’s eyes widened in surprise at this stranger knowing who she was. Her startled silence was clearly taken as an affirmation, as the brunette started speaking again without waiting for Clarke to say anything._

_“Your mom sent me down. She wanted to come too. But the council… She was able to hold them off to give me time to launch. Everyone up there thinks you all are dead, except for her. She didn’t believe it. Refused to. Wait, you aren’t all dead, are you? Where is everyone else? You aren’t the only one left, right?”_

_The words were starting to spill out faster and Clarke could sense the panic building in the stranger before her. Placing a gentle hand on her shoulder to stop her when she tried to rise, Clarke kept her in place on the ground and held up her canteen of water instead._

_“I will answer all of your questions. But first, drink some water. You have a nasty cut on your forehead and were knocked out for hours.”_

_The brunette took the offered drink and stared at Clarke expectantly. The blonde sighed deeply. So much had happened since she had arrived on the ground, and rehashing it all wasn’t exactly on the top of her list of things she wanted to do. Learning that her mother was on some sort of crusade up on the Ark and had risked a stranger’s life chilled her already frigid feelings surrounding her mom. Pushing all thoughts and emotions surrounding Abby aside, Clarke shifted to sit next to the newest citizen of the Ark to reach the ground. Sighing, she figured it was best to start at the beginning as much as she didn’t want to._

_“What’s your name?”_

_“Raven.”_

_“Hi, Raven. As you already guessed, I’m Clarke.” She paused a moment but Raven just stared at her expectantly. “What did my mother all tell you about the reason the Ark sent its 100 juvenile prisoners down here?”_

_“She said that the Ark was dying and sending you guys down here was the only way to truly learn if the ground was survivable.”_

_Clarke rolled her eyes at how heroic that explanation made it all sound. Before she could comment, Raven continued, “But I’m not dumb. Yeah, sending you all down here would let them know the conditions of the ground. But the expectation was that you would all die. My guess is that they just wanted to see how quickly. And that the bigger reason behind what was meant to be a thinly veiled mass execution is that sending you all down afforded everyone up there a little more oxygen. And judging by your face right now, I’d say I hit the mark.”_

_Clarke stared at Raven in shock while the brunette just gave a sad smirk. She’d known that was a big part of sending them all down. Hell, Jaha himself had called them all expendable in his parting video message. But this was the first time Clarke had heard someone say it so bluntly. Swallowing the anger and bile that had risen in her throat, Clarke refocused on the girl next to her._

_“Yeah, that just about sums it up. By some miracle, the ground, as you can see, is survivable.”_

_“Gee thanks, not like I’m genius enough to have figured that part out.”_

_Clarke rolled her eyes but couldn’t quite fight back the smile Raven’s sarcasm sparked. The feeling of her mouth quirking upwards felt almost foreign. There hadn’t exactly been a whole lot to find amusing in the past week._

_“Right. Well, here’s the thing. The ground is survivable in the sense that we all didn’t immediately die of radiation poisoning. Unfortunately, that hasn’t made staying alive any easier.”_

_Raven cut in once more and Clarke suspected this whole conversation was going to take a lot longer than she originally anticipated._

_“What? Are you telling me that a bunch of delinquents haven’t managed to figure out how to start fires and kill animals yet?”_

_“Oh, the fires and hunting haven’t been the issue. It’s the being hunted and dealing with idiots on power trips that have put a damper on things.”_

_“Being hunted?”_

_“The locals weren’t exactly happy about us dropping into their territory.”_

_“Locals?”_

_“We call them grounders. They speak a language we don’t understand, use the trees to attack from above, and are scary accurate with spears.”_

_Raven just stared at Clarke, jaw half hanging open, clearly trying to figure out if she was being pranked. Realizing that no ‘ha, gotcha’ was coming from the blonde next to her, she sat up a little straighter and glanced around._

_“Ok, so where’s everyone else? Why are we alone? Are we alone or are we about to be attacked? Because I gotta say blondie, I’m not altogether into the idea of surviving getting down here just to be shish-ka-bobbed.”_

_“We’re alone because everyone else who is still alive didn’t find it worthwhile to hike through the forest to your lovely crash site.”_

_“But you did?”_

_“Well, I figured that the Ark wouldn’t waste supplies on us since they wrote us off the moment they launched the dropship, but that just begged the question on what, or who in the world, was in that hunk of burnt metal you call a ship.”_

_“Hey! I’ll have you know I repaired that ancient tin can myself and since I’m alive and well that means I am clearly a genius whom you should speak to with more respect!”_

_Clarke actually laughed. The easy back and forth and wittiness that came with talking to Raven was refreshing. Raven grinned, clearly pleased with herself. But the laughter faded as quickly as it came as Raven’s smile faltered around her next question._

_“You said everyone else who is still alive. How many have we lost?”_

_Clarke sighed and wrapped her arms around herself as the air seemed to take an unnatural dip in temperature. Looking up to the stars that were now starting to dot across the sky, she sighed before answering._

_“A lot has happened in the short time we’ve been down here. Two were dead before we’d landed, after copying one idiot who undid his seatbelt to float around. Somehow he’s still alive and growing to be a huge pain in my ass. We lost another to some sort of acid fog that is entirely unnatural and appears randomly. The kid who took a spear to the heart was dead before her body hit the ground, but Jasper, he took an arrow to the thigh. I managed to control the bleeding in time. He’s still limping and scared to leave his tent, but he’s alive. And Wells-”_

_Clarke abruptly stopped speaking. It had been 5 days. She hadn’t spoken his name since. She’d barely even allowed herself to think about it. The pain was still too fresh. And underneath the grief was a pang of even more excruciating guilt._

_Jumping slightly, Clarke glanced down at the hand squeezing her leg before looking up to meet Raven’s eyes. There was no pity in them. Just understanding. Clarke swallowed before continuing. If her voice was a little rougher than previously, neither girl reacted._

_“Wells is gone too.”_

_Raven allowed Clarke a few minutes of silence then. They just sat, staring out at the night sky spread out before them, each lost in their own thoughts. Raven didn’t move her hand from its place on the blonde’s leg, and for that small comfort, Clarke was grateful._

_Eventually, it was Raven who broke the silence with another question. Her voice was soft and almost timid, but in the quiet of the night around them, it was loud and clear._

_“The others who are- who didn’t make it. Do you know what their names were?”_

_Clarke glanced over at the brunette. Everything about their interactions so far had screamed confidence boarding on cockiness. Now, however, there was an uncertainty that was almost fear lingering in the girl’s features. She didn’t dare draw attention to it or question who Raven was really asking about. She just answered and prayed that she wasn’t about to break the girl’s heart._

_“The first two were Garret and Trevon. The fog took Atom. The spear was Macie.”_

_Clarke pretended not to notice the tension release from Raven’s shoulders in relief of not hearing the name she was clearly worried about._

_“So there’s 95 of you left.”_

_“96 actually. Well, now 97 with you here.”_

_Raven’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion, “But-”_

_“Bellemy Blake stowed away on the dropship in order to come down with his little sister.”_

_“Sister? There aren’t- Wait Blake?” The moment the dots connected couldn’t have been clearer if an actual lightbulb lit up over her head. “The girl under the floor?!”_

_“Her name is Octavia, and yes she was the one who the Blake’s managed to hide until she was 16.”_

_“Damn. That’s crazy! So wait, you’re telling me that her brother snuck onto the dropship to come down here with her?”_

_Raven’s tone was almost incredulous. Clarke was just grateful for the shift in conversation topic._

_“Yep,” Clarke rolled her eyes, “He’s like, mega protective of her. Has it through his thick skull that because she’s his little sister he has to do anything to protect her and has essentially been trying to control her every move since we got down here. Something that she is so not happy about.”_

_“I mean, I can’t say I blame her. All those years stuck pretending she was never born, to finally be free and on the ground of all places, only to have her brother trying to dictate everything. That’s some shit.”_

_Clarke felt her lips slipping into a smile once more. Leave it to Raven to understand before even being witness to the Blake drama._

_“You should have seen him when he caught her and Spacewalker getting hot and heavy. I thought he was going to shoot.”_

_Raven’s face slipped into an unreadable mask._

_“Spacewalker?”_

_Clarke was too busy digging in her pack for rations to notice the change in the other girl’s face._

_“Hm? Yeah, some stupid nickname for Finn Collins. The idiot who inspired Garret and Trevon to take off their seatbelts. He’s honestly the worst. Flirts with any girl that so much makes eye contact with him. I almost punched him yesterday when he-”_

_Clarke broke off as she turned back to Raven and saw pure fury burning in the girl’s eyes. She blinked in shock. Gone was the kind and open face that was there just moments before. The rage that had contorted the other girl’s face had Clarke suddenly swallowing something that tasted almost like fear._

_“Um, Raven? What’s going-”_

_“When he what, Clarke?”_

_The words were clipped and flat._

_“What?”_

_Clarke was lost as to what had just happened._

_“You almost punched Finn when he what?”_

_Clarke’s eyes snapped from where they’d been roving over Raven’s face to meet her eyes. And then she saw the tears threatening to spill over. Her voice was no more than a whisper as she answered._

_“When he tried to kiss me after I told him to get lost.”_

_Raven gulped. The muscles in her throat visibly working overtime like she was trying to swallow down something insurmountable. Clarke watched helplessly as the tears split over and slid down the brunette’s cheeks. The other girl was shaking, clearly trying to hold it all in, but she was slowly losing the control to maintain any semblance of composure._

_Clarke slowly reached across the space between them, letting her hand cover Raven’s where it was balled into a fist in her lap. She took it as a good sign when her touch wasn’t immediately rebuffed._

_“Raven? How do you know Finn?”_

_Clarke’s voice was soft and she watched as Raven seemed to waiver. She was staring hard at the space to the left of Clarke’s head. But then her watering eyes shifted to once more meet the blue of Clarke’s._

_“He’s my boyfriend. Or at least he was until now. He is- was the only family I had left.”_

_Raven’s voice broke. The sobs won out. Clarke didn’t hesitate. She shifted and opened her arms. Raven collapsed into them, her whole body quivering as she cried._

_Holding the heartbroken girl in her arms, Clarke couldn’t quite wrap her mind around how she’d gotten to this point. She’d woken up this morning with the goal of just getting herself and everyone else from the group through another day alive. She’d seen the ship come down and just knew that she had to get to its crash site. And now, here she was, holding a girl who she’d just met in her arms trying to provide any comfort she could. Minutes ago she had been afraid that she was going to break Raven’s heart by having to deliver the news that someone she cared about was dead. Instead, she broke her heart by revealing that the person who she clearly loved most in all the world had betrayed her in the worst way. Clarke grit her teeth, anger boiling inside of her. Finn was going to pay. She may have just met Raven, but Clarke felt like she’d known her for forever, and the need to protect her was strong._

_Noticing that the sounds of Raven’s sobs had somewhat quieted, Clarke adjusted her hold on the girl until she could see her face. Her heart clenched again at the sight of red and swollen eyes. But her voice was strong and sure._

_“Hey. You listen to me and you listen good. I don’t care that we only just met. You’re down here on the ground now, and that means you’re with me. The only family I have- well had. One is dead thanks to the other. And my best friend is gone. But I’m not alone and neither are you. Because from now on, we’re each other’s family. Got it?”_

_Raven stared at Clarke for a long moment as though the words weren’t quite sinking in. But eventually, she gave the smallest smile and nodded._

_Sitting back up and dragging her hand across her tear-streaked face, Raven cleared her throat._

_“Right. Sorry about that.”_

_“No apologies needed, Raven.”_

_A beat of silence passed as the brunette continued working to regain control over her emotions._

_“So, we’re family now, huh?”_

_Clarke smirked, “Yep.”_

_“You know that means you are obligated to be on my side no matter the situation, right?”_

_The wicked gleam in Raven’s eyes had Clarke’s narrowing._

_“Um, yeah sure?”_

_“Good. So you’ll help me hide his body then, right?”_

_Clarke laughed once more. “Absolutely.”_

_Raven grinned and Clarke was relieved to see that she seemed to be handling her broken heart with humor that was already clearly on-brand for her. Of course, Clarke wasn’t fool enough to believe that the other girl was over it by any means, but it seemed that having someone on her side was exactly what was needed for the time being._

_“But we can plot the extravagant murder later. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to freeze just sitting here all night. Your wound seems to have stopped bleeding. How about getting off your lazy ass and helping me set up this damn tent? No way are we hiking back to camp tonight.”_

_“Lazy ass! Who are you calling a lazy ass? You caught an all-expenses-paid trip down here while I had to build my own damn dropship! Lazy my ass!”_

Clarke’s smile became a full grin as she remembered the task that putting up the tent had become that first night. Apparently, being the youngest zero-g mechanic in the history of the Ark really just meant that Raven was an extreme perfectionist and really good at bossing people around. There had been no more talk of deaths or heartbreak that night. The pair had laughed and joked until finally the tent was put together to Raven’s standards. Clarke had tried insisting that they should take turns keeping watch, even volunteering to go first, but it was to no avail. In Raven’s own words, ‘The grounders could just try and come for them. They’d be good practice for what she had planned for Finn’. Clarke had conceded the point and they’d both passed out shortly after, exhausted but oddly content. 

That had been day 9 on the ground for Clarke. And in the 5 days that had passed since Raven’s arrival, the pair had grown to be attached at the hip. They had arrived back at the dropship site late the next morning following Raven’s arrival. True to fashion, the mechanic had managed to stir up chaos and organization within an hour of joining the group. Finn had tried to run and embrace her as soon as he had seen her, but the romantic reunion he clearly was anticipating was shattered in the same moment that Raven’s fist shattered his nose. Clarke had needed to force down a laugh at the sight. But a stranger seemingly attacking one of their own, even if he wasn’t particularly liked, had caused those who had seen the incident to jump up and shout in anger. Clarke had stepped protectively in front of the brunette and gotten everyone to shut up long enough to explain who Raven was, how she’d gotten there, and why Finn deserved to be sitting on the ground trying to use a piece of fabric ripped from his shirt to slow the bleeding of his face. 

Once introductions were out of the way, Raven had immediately gotten to work by finding all the ways she could make the dropship a more secure shelter for the group. Whether it was because the group of kids wasn’t used to someone who was so confident and self-assured, or because Clarke herself was heeding the mechanic’s words and she was their kinda leader, those at the camp had scrambled to comply to different tasks Raven began firing off. Clarke supposed it also could have been because they’d see the pretty punch the brunette was packing. 

Now here they were. Still scared, and probably startlingly close to starving, but still alive. The little group Clarke was keeping an eye on as they gathered roots and berries consisted of Raven, Monty, Jasper, Harper, and Murphy. Clarke wasn’t altogether sure why the angry boy had decided to join their already established group. He didn’t seem to hold any respect for her, and she doubted that he felt guilty about being the reason the group was running dangerously low on food. She supposed that he could have just been taking any opportunity that presented itself to get away from Bellamy. But whatever his unclear motives were, Clarke was determined to keep them all safe. 

Raven walked out from the shelter of the trees to join Clarke in the clearing. Something about her facial expression had the hairs on the blonde’s arms rising. The older girl looked carefully composed like she was trying to maintain a mask of complete calm. Clarke raised an eyebrow in question but didn’t say anything. Raven held out a handful of berries and dropped them into Clarke’s hand. 

“You look hungry. And like maybe you could use some _company_ since the rest of us seem to have some.” 

Raven stressed her words just barely, but it was enough. Clarke’s first instinct was to snap her gaze to the trees around them and try to locate whatever, or whoever, it was that Raven had seen or sensed. But Raven’s hand on her cheek stilled her instinctual movement. Blue eyes met brown, and Raven gave the smallest shake of her head, her eyes imploring Clarke not to make any sudden and obvious movements. Clarke swallowed and nodded. 

“Thanks. Yeah, I was getting kinda hungry.” 

Raven dropped her hand back to her side as Clarke popped a few berries in her mouth. Knowing that they needed to be careful of eyes and ears that could be surrounding them, Clarke elected to try to have a conversation within a conversation. She just prayed the smartest person on the ground with her would pick up on what she was doing. 

“How _many_ of these berries have you gathered? Have you noticed any _specific areas_ of the forest that seem to be more plentiful? Has anyone else in the group _come close_ to getting enough for us to call it a day?” 

Raven’s mouth twitched in a smirk and Clarke fought to roll her eyes. Of course, the girl picked up exactly what she was really asking. She would probably have taken offense if she knew that Clarke had been worried she wouldn’t. The pair turned to cast their gazes back into the trees as Raven answered.

“I’ve gathered enough for maybe _8_ days if we were super strict with rations. _All around this clearing_ seems to have some options, but not enough for all of us to not starve soon. As far as the rest of our slacker group goes, no, _I’m the only one_ who seems to have had such _progress_.”

8 grounders. They were surrounded. No one in their group but Raven had picked up their presence. Clarke dragged her hand through her hair and chewed her bottom lip. This wasn’t good. They were outnumbered and surely out-weaponed. Their only saving grace right now was that no one else in the group had noticed. She doubted any of them would have been capable of remaining calm and subtly tipping her off on what was going on. Now she just needed to get them out of there before that changed, and it had to happen in a way that wouldn’t tip off their company to the fact that their presence had been noticed. 

Turning back to Raven, Clarke gave her a small smile and cocked her head to one side. The brunette barely had time to register the almost amused and mischievous look on her friend’s face before Clarke surged forward and wrapped her arms around the slightly shorter girl’s waist. 

Clarke’s lips pressed against Raven’s cheek faster than the mechanic could process, and then blonde hair obstructed most of her view as Clarke buried her face in her neck. 

“Hug me back, you idiot!” 

The words were hot as they were hissed against her skin. But they were enough to shake Raven free of the shock that had frozen her. She wrapped her arms around Clarke and tilted her head just so, ensuring that she would be able to hear any whispered words and that her own lips would be masked behind Clarke’s shoulder. 

“Damn, Griffin. Give a girl a warning! I woulda made sure to chew on some mint leaves before coming over here!” 

“Fuck off, Raven. This is serious!” 

But both girls knew that the slight shake of Clarke’s body was from laughter thanks to Raven’s comment. And given their circumstances, one moment of lightness was helpful in settling their nerves. 

“Serious. Right. So what’s the plan? You gonna kiss me next? Give the grounders a show and hope that it’s enough that they decide not to kill us?”

Clarke’s smirk was hidden against Raven’s neck. 

“Not exactly. A show, yes. Put on by yours truly, nope.”

“Clarke, I’m not kissing Monty.”

“Oh, so you would be fine kissing me though?” 

“I’m pretty sure everyone on this planet would be fine kissing you, Clarke.” 

Clarke squeezed her arms tighter around Raven until she felt the other girl let out a groan. 

“Stop being ridiculous. And listen closely.” 

Clarke whispered her plan into the warmth of Raven’s neck. The older girl nodded and hummed her approval. Once they were in agreement, Clarke pulled back slightly. She kept one arm around Raven, while her other hand moved up to brush brown hair out of the mechanic’s face. Raven’s hands remained linked behind Clarke’s neck. The two stood staring at each other for a moment. Then, quick as lightning, Raven leaned forward and pressed her lips to Clarke’s. It was barely a second. The briefest moment of pressure and then it was gone. And Raven was dancing back across the clearing towards the trees and away from Clarke. She turned back once and gave an exaggerated wink. Clarke didn’t even fight her smile and eye roll. 

However, the smile slid from her face as she watched Raven moving further between the trees. Doubt crept in. Maybe they should have just called the group back in and gone back. Sure, it would have raised some eyebrows since they were meant to gather until dusk and the sun was still high in the sky. But maybe it would have been worth it. Maybe they could have gotten the group to agree to leave without having tipped them off as to why. There were just too many maybe’s. It was why Clarke had decided they needed a believable distraction that would give them an excuse to head back. But seeing Raven edging closer to the gap between where Jasper and Monty were gathering roots and Murphy was leaning against a tree sharpening his knife, Clarke felt her stomach twist into knots. 

The plan was simple. Raven does something to provoke Murphy. The boy was always a ticking time bomb, so that part was easy. The next part was tricky because even though they were confident that things would play out the way they assumed, there was still a chance things could go sideways. The thought was that as soon as it became apparent that Murphy was losing his shit, everyone else in the vicinity would be there to back up Raven. It was no secret that nobody really liked Murphy. But the key was that Clarke would have to time her intervention just right. If she jumped in too soon, Murphy would probably stand down, and then there would be no chaos to use as an excuse to call it a day. If Clarke waited too long…. Well, she didn’t want to think about that. Murphy was unpredictable and just about everyone in the 100 that she cared about was there and going to be involved. And Raven would be at the center of it all. 

Clarke let her gaze wander to the trees above where Raven now was crouched down seemingly looking for something to gather. She didn’t see anything, not even a slight shift in the branches, to suggest anyone was there. But she trusted Raven, and the mechanic certainly believed that they were being watched. 

Her eyes fell back to the brunette who straightened up, something gripped tightly in her closed fist. Clarke held her breath. This was it. Raven moved her arm as she prepared to throw whatever she was holding at Murphy whose back was to her. Clarke was sure whatever Raven was about to launch at him would definitely get an explosive reaction from the boy. 

A horn sounded. Long, loud, and from somewhere close by. Raven dropped the rock. Everyone in their group turned toward the sound and froze. Clarke was the only one who noticed the movement in the trees. Whoever was in them was fleeing and doing so fast. The horn sounded again. Five pairs of eyes shifted to stare towards her in confusion and fear. 

“Get back to the dropship! Now!” 

Her yelled order got everyone moving. They grabbed whatever they could from what they had been gathering and hurried towards her. Monty reached her first. 

“An attack?” The boy was breathless already and the fear was clear in his eyes. 

Jasper, Harper, and Murphy skidded to a stop beside them in the clearing next. 

Clarke scanned the skies before letting her gaze fall to Raven who was finally next to the group, carrying more rations than the other four combined. 

“I don’t think it’s an attack. I think it’s a warning. We need to get back to camp. Jasper, Murphy, take some of those rations from Raven. We need to move quickly.”

Raven shifted some of her load to the two boys. Once it was settled, Clarke pointed in the direction the dropship was. 

“We’re directly West of camp. Murphy, take the lead. Monty and Harper, you stick right behind him. Jasper, don’t lose sight of them. Raven, you’re next. I’ll be right behind you all. Move fast but keep your eyes open. I don’t think this is an attack, but we know we’re not the only ones on the ground. Stay sharp and let’s go.” 

The group immediately fell into the line formation as she instructed. Nobody argued, not even Murphy. They set off at a fast pace. Clarke had put Murphy in the lead because for as many issues as she had with the boy, she knew and trusted in his instinct for survival. He wouldn’t hesitate to leave any of them behind, but being in the front meant he would keep their speed up and if there was danger ahead, well he would do whatever he had to keep himself alive. Hopefully that could serve as a warning for the rest of them. 

Everyone raced through the trees. Clarke did her best to keep her eyes glued to the canopy above them, but it was difficult to maintain an upward gaze while navigating the roots and rocks that littered their path. If there were still grounders watching them, she didn’t see them. 

Raven slowed ahead of her until they were running side by side. 

“Don’t know- what that was but- worked out better than your plan.”

Her words were gasped out between breaths. They were pushing themselves hard, trying to get back to the dropship as quickly as possible. Clarke nodded in agreement but didn’t try to speak herself. She, by no means, was an expert at land navigation, but she was fairly certain they were almost there. 

Sure enough, after another 500 yards or so, the trees began to thin. And then the dropship appeared behind the crudely constructed walls the group had been working to build around their camp. 

“Open the gate!” 

Murphy’s yell echoed through the trees around them. The sound of a commotion followed, and then the makeshift door in the wall slid over and the group ran though. Clarke was the last to enter. She helped to slide the door back into place before collapsing against it panting. She reached for her canteen with shaky hands and tipped some of the water down her throat. It was warm and too low for her liking, but it helped. She cursed inwardly. They had been planning on refilling on their way back, but the turn of events had taken that option off the table. She was sure she wasn’t the only one running low and resigned herself to the fact that at some point soon, she was going to have to head right back out into the forest or risk dehydration. 

“What the hell happened, Princess?”

Bellamy’s voice broke through her thoughts and she tilted her head up to meet his hard gaze. He was standing before her, spear gripped tightly in his hand. She fought the desire to roll her eyes at his posturing. He thought himself their leader and protector. She could smell Monty’s moonshine on him from where he stood. 

“We fancied ourselves a nice run to burn off all those extra calories we’ve been eating. What the fuck do you think happened, Blake?” 

Bellamy turned to scowl at Raven for her sarcastic quip. Clarke hadn’t seen the brunette come up behind him but smiled at her attitude. She was one of the few who didn’t take the older boy’s shit. 

“Real funny, Reyes.” He turned back to Clarke. “Seriously, what happened?” 

There was a flash of genuine concern behind his dark eyes as he took in Clarke’s flushed face and the scrapes that littered her arms and cheeks from running through the trees. The blonde pushed herself upright and motioned with her head for him to walk with her. 

“We were gathering berries and roots when something that sounded like a horn sounded. It seemed close. We didn’t know what it meant but weren’t going to stick around to find out.”

Raven fell into step beside them and glanced at Clarke but didn’t say anything. If the blonde wasn’t going to bring up the grounders watching them, then she’d keep her mouth shut as well. But she would definitely be bringing it up with the blonde later. 

“A horn? Do you think it was signaling an attack?”

“I don’t think so, Bell. We weren’t exactly stealthy coming back here. If there was someone wanting to take us out, it would have been easy. No, I think it was a warning of some sort.”

“A warning for what?” 

“I don’t know. Weather? Animal? Acid fog? Take your pick. We weren’t going to stick around out there to find out.”

The group came to a stop next to the tent that Raven and Clarke had been sharing. Bellamy placed his hand on Clarke’s shoulder and waited until she met his eyes, her eyebrows raised. 

“You made the right choice. I’m glad you got everyone back. Next time, I’ll come with you.”

“I don’t need a babysitter, Bellamy.”

“It’s my job to keep everyone safe.” 

“No, it’s really not. You just think that. But I’m not your sister. I’m not Octavia. And you don’t get to tell me what to do.” 

Bellamy’s face flushed in anger and his hand dropped from her shoulder. His expression hardened, but he didn’t have a response. Clarke pushed open the flap to the tent, nodding at Raven to enter ahead of her before turning back to Bellamy.

“I get it Bell. You want to keep us all alive, same as me. But the next time I go out, that’s exactly why you can’t come. One of us has to be here. Always. Just in case.”

He nodded, swallowing hard. Clarke softened her tone further.

“I’m sure Octavia is fine. She’ll turn up sooner or later. She just needed some space. She’s never had that before. You can’t blame the girl for wanting to explore. And the next time I go out, I promise we’ll bring weapons. At least a knife.”

The oldest Blake nodded again. Clarke reached up and squeezed his shoulder before turning into her tent, letting the flap fall closed between them. Raven lay on her makeshift bed smirking at her friend.

“What?”

“Blakey-boy cares about you.”

“He cares about everyone. Too much for his own good.”

“Hate to break it to you, _Princess_ , but the same could be said about you. But that’s not the point. He cares about you more.”

“Don’t call me that. And no, he doesn’t. And even if he did, doesn’t make him any less of a pain in my ass.” 

Clarke flopped down onto her sleeping bag as Raven laughed. She shrugged out of her jacket and loosened her boots enough to slip them off. She gave up fully untying them by the end of the first week. All too often she found herself having to throw them on in a hurry. Keeping them tied saved her time. 

“What’d you do with the stuff we managed to gather and get back here?” 

“First off, we? Pretty sure I did the gathering and you just enjoyed the view, Princess.”

“Raven-” Clarke’s warning tone was cut off as the mechanic spoke over her.

“Secondly, I gave everything I had to Monty to make sure it got stowed away properly.”

Clarke nodded and shifted to get more comfortable. 

“Well,” Raven’s voice betrayed the fact that she was smirking even though Clarke couldn’t see her face from where she lay looking at the tent over their heads, “almost everything.”

Clarke rolled to face the mechanic and saw her holding out a pouch. Reaching across the space between them, Clake snagged the offered item and tipped some of its contents out. Berries filled her palm. Her favorite berries to be exact. They were a deep purple, almost black. The juice from them was sweet and tart at the same time. She looked up with a huge smile at Raven who was already grinning at her. 

“You know, we aren’t supposed to keep anything we collect for ourselves.” Clarke’s voice was light and teasing. 

“You’re welcome, Princess.”

Clarke popped a few of the berries into her mouth before chucking the pouch back at the brunette. 

“Quit calling me that, Reyes.” 

“Never. It suits you too well.” 

Clarke rolled her eyes. The truth was, she didn’t mind the nickname all that much when Raven used it. Coming from Bellamy or Murphy, it was an insult. Meant as a jab at her status as a councilor's daughter on the Ark. But she knew that Raven used it as an equal parts term of endearment and purposeful attempt to get under her skin. She just rolled her eyes in response and bunched up her jacket into a more comfortable shape as a pillow. 

“Get some sleep, Ray. We’re gonna have to go back out for water tomorrow. And knowing half the idiots in this camp, we’ll probably be up in a few hours to put out a fire or break up a fight.” 

“Your optimism is truly inspiring.”

“Goodnight Raven.” 

“Night night Clarkey.” 

With that, Clarke let the stress and exhaustion from the day take over. Her eyes slid closed and she tuned out the voices of those in the camp around her. 14 days. 2 weeks down on the ground. Rather than allow herself to overthink about everything that had happened in such a short time, or worry about what was yet to come, she focused on the steady sound of Raven’s breathing and allowed sleep to claim her.


	2. Chapter 2

Clarke had a high enough level of intellect to understand that the rain was a good thing. Rain meant fresh water could be gathered and clothes at least somewhat cleaned. It also meant wet ground that allowed for easier tracking of prey for the hunting parties. The group also chose to believe that rain meant they were safer from a Grounder attack. Clarke knew that wasn’t logical at all, considering that the Grounders had been down here long enough to not be bothered by something as small as getting wet, but she let the others find what comfort they could. 

But just because Clarke knew that for all intents and purposes rain was a good thing, as she sat huddled under a makeshift shelter picking at a small handful of nuts, the weather had her grumpy. There was a chilly breeze in the air and the clouds seemed intent on casting a dreary haze over the forest surrounding their camp making it seem darker out than it should be for midday. The rain meant that no one was leaving camp to try hunting, gathering, or collecting water from the nearby stream. Of course the rain itself provided some water for the delinquents, but their rations always seemed to be just shy of gone. Clarke had been hoping to spend more time out of the camp again today. The group needed food and she couldn’t stand to be cooped up behind the walls when there was still so much to experience and learn about the ground. 

Sometimes Clarke wished that she wasn’t one-half of the leadership the group had going on. It would be so easy to just relinquish control to Bellamy and disappear into the trees. Sure, the Grounders would probably kill her, but she had aced Earth Skills back up on the Ark. Maybe she would stand a chance. And with no responsibility to be responsible for everyone else, she could just focus on exploring and learning. Something about the openness, the never-ending greens, called to Clarke. She had covered her old solitary cell on the Ark in images of what she imagined the ground would look like, and now that she was actually here she was just itching to see what she had gotten right and what is so much better than she could have ever dreamed. 

But Clarke was who she was, and there was no way she could ever just walk away from the group she’d come down with. Raven would never let her for one thing. But it was more than that. Clarke was driven to help people; to fix things even when everyone else thought that it was hopeless. So staying to try to keep a group of kids alive on a planet that none of them had a clue about? Of course she wasn’t going anywhere. She couldn’t imagine a scenario where she could just walk away from her people. It was just too ridiculous to consider. 

Shaking herself from the pointless thought, Clarke sat up straight as she caught sight of Raven making her way over towards her. She shifted slightly on the ground, making room for the brunette to sit next to her and share the log she was leaning against. 

“Why do you seem broody, Princess?” Raven wasted no time in plopping down next to the blonde and stealing a nut from her hand. 

“Well hello to you too, Raven. I’m not broody, I’m just bummed with the weather.”

“Ah yes, nothing like the miracle of seeing actual rain after years of the black nothingness that is space to get your spirits down.”

“You are seriously such a sarcastic little shit sometimes.”

“True statement. But I’m also like always right, so I’m allowed to be as sarcastic and witty as I want. It’s a perk of being brilliant.” 

Clarke just rolled her eyes and didn’t bother coming up with a response. For one thing, she knew that Raven had a point. She also had a feeling that her friend would have a comeback for any argument she did try to give, and that she wouldn’t win. Silence still gave Raven some satisfaction, if the older girl’s smirk was anything to go by, but it was better than the alternative. 

Sensing that Clarke wasn’t going to attempt a rebuttal, Raven snatched another mouthful of nuts from her hand before nudging her shoulder against Clarke’s. 

“You sure you’re good though?” 

Her voice was more gentle than her normal tone and without a trace of humor. Clarke glanced sideways to give the worried mechanic a tired, but real smile. 

“Yeah Ray, I’m good. Just feeling a little off today I guess.”

“Off how? Oh I get it, you’re just sad because I haven’t kissed you again, aren’t you?” The jokes had clearly returned already. Clarke rolled her eyes as Raven made an exaggerated kissy face at her. 

“I am absolutely positive that withdrawal from kissing you is not what my issue is today.” 

“You sure? You can always try if you wanna be certain. Just say the word and these lips are all yours.”

“Reyes, if I didn’t know any better I’d say you were in love with me.”

“Only on days that end in ‘y’ baby!”

Raven winked and the pair descended into a fit of laughter. Clarke was so grateful to have Raven. Their friendship was the main source of her sanity right now if she was being honest. It was just nice to have someone who she could laugh with no matter how crappy things seemed. 

But as their laughter died down, the feeling settled back in. It was like an itch under her skin. Clarke glanced back up at the gray sky and then out at the trees. There was a fog-like mist that had settled low to the ground. Her gut churned. Something was going to happen. She didn’t know when she had started having such premonitions, but she just knew that whatever was coming, it wasn’t going to be good. 

As though her dark thoughts had summoned him, Bellamy rounded the corner by the cooking station and made a direct path towards where the two girls were sitting. As he got closer, he glanced between the pair, his expression unreadable. Clarke took a deep breath and prayed for patience. Try as she might, Raven’s words from the previous night echoed in her mind. But as the eldest Blake reached them she mentally shook herself to rid such ridiculousness from her head. Bellamy was many things, but he was not in love with her in the slightest. She was fairly certain he didn’t even like her; he just had some grudging respect for her.

“Hey Princess, you got a minute to talk?” 

His hair was matted to his forehead from the rain, and he somehow already has specks of mud on his cheek. Clarke raised her eyebrows at him but said nothing, inviting him to continue with her silence. 

Bellamy once again glanced at Raven who seemed to be daring him with her gaze to say it. He cleared his throat and brought his eyes back to Clarke.

“Alone?” 

Clarke sighed and Raven let out a snort beside her. But leadership came with an ever-present crushing weight of responsibility. And Clarke had somehow found herself sharing the role with the dark-haired boy standing before her. Knowing that if he was seeking her out to talk that it was probably important, Clarke let out another sigh and stood up. 

“I’ll be right back, Ray. Try not to miss me too much.” 

She threw a tired smile at the mechanic who grinned in return before letting her expression drop flat as she eyed Bellamy once more. She didn’t take her eyes off of him as she spoke. 

“Just holler if you need me.”

Thankfully Clarke’s head was turned so that Bellamy didn’t see the eyeroll and face she made at her friend. Raven just smirked. 

Turning to face the older boy, Clarke held up her hand gesturing for him to lead the way. With a nod, Bellamy turned and headed toward a section of the wall between two of the guard posts. In a camp as small as theirs, there wasn’t ever really the option of much privacy, so away from the central area where the general population was milling about would have to do. 

Reaching his desired destination, Bellamy came to a stop and turned to face Clarke, his face serious. 

“I want to send a search party out for Octavia.”

Well, he certainly didn’t waste any time getting right to the point. Clarke studied his face. He was putting on a pretty good show. Ever since Octavia had seemingly vanished, Bellamy had appeared to remain strong. But standing so close to him now, Clarke could see the dark bags under his eyes. None of the group had been eating the best given the limited resources, but there was a gauntness to his face that seemed to go beyond a few lighter meals. This wasn’t going to be easy.

“Bellamy, we can’t. You know we can’t.”

“Bullshit. We haven’t had any incidents with the Grounders for a few days. We could send a few groups out just to scout the area. See if they can even just find a trail. I could go alone from there.”

“Just because there hasn’t been an outright attack doesn’t mean that the Grounders aren’t still out there waiting. Or did you forget the weird horn and my scavenging party racing back already? And even if we knew that there wouldn’t be any altercations, it’s not like we have the extra manpower. We need everyone we can spare from guard duty to be out hunting and gathering. Or we are not going to survive once winter hits.”

“Come on, Clarke. She’s my sister.”

“I know that Bellamy. And that’s exactly why you’re too close to this to be thinking clearly. If it were anyone but Octavia, you wouldn’t even entertain the idea of using time and resources for a search party.”

“Fine. Then I’ll go. And I’ll only take people who volunteer with me.”

Desperation was lacing his voice. His eyes were pleading with her. She realized that he knew all along that he would never be able to convince her to send groups out. What Bellamy was really asking for was her permission for him to go. He wanted to be able to walk away in search of his sister and be free from the guilt of abandoning his spot as a leader by her side. 

She tore her gaze away from him. His dark eyes were the most expressive part about him, and she couldn’t bring herself to meet them as she dashed his hopes of getting off easy.

“Bellamy, you can’t. This camp depends on both you and I together just to stay alive. It’s crap and not fair. And I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t wished more than once that I could just walk away from the responsibility. But this is where we are.”

Chancing a glance up, Clarke watched as her words washed over the older Blake. He squeezed his eyes close tight. The silence was broken by his voice which sounded strained and soft, so unlike the Bellamy Clarke was used to hearing. 

“Please, Princess.”

“I can’t stop you, Bell. But if you go, there is a good chance we will crumble. And if you do somehow manage to find Octavia, there may not be anyone or anything for you guys to come back to. Could you really live with yourself?”

“She’s my sister. My responsibility.”

“Yeah, and everyone else in this camp is our responsibility too.”

Neither spoke again for a few long minutes. Clarke chewed at her lip. As much as Bellamy was a pain in her ass most days, she knew that they needed him. And she was scared that nothing she could say would be enough to stop him from going. Not when it came to his sister. She had to find a way to compromise with him.

“Look. How about this,” Bellamy’s eyes snapped up to hers as she spoke. “What if we have the hunting parties that go out also scout. You could brief them all yourself on what you want them to keep an eye out for. With winter coming, we’ve been having to venture further and further out to find game anyway. We’re not just sticking right outside the walls anymore. We can’t. So let’s have the people who are already being tasked out see if they can find anything.”

Bellamy stared at her like he was just seeing her for the first time. Like he was blind, but could now see the light. Clarke shifted her weight under his gaze and continued. 

“It couldn’t detract from the primary mission of getting us enough food to survive. But having them also doing a little searching wouldn’t hurt anything. What do you thin-”

The air was suddenly cut off from Clarke’s lungs as Bellamy wrapped her up in a tight hug. He squeezed her tight for a long moment before releasing her and stepping back quickly. Suddenly embarrassed and unable to meet her eyes, he cleared his throat and nodded. 

“Yeah, that, ehm. That’s a great idea. Don’t know why I didn’t think of that. I’ll make sure to brief the next parties that go out after this weather rolls through.” 

“Sounds good.”

The older boy finally managed to look up at Clarke again. She could see him swallow hard like he was trying to figure out how to get what he wanted to say out. His eyes danced between hers a few times. She could have sworn they shifted down slightly towards her lips for a split second, but before she could do more than shift her weight once more, Bellamy seemed to shake himself of whatever he was thinking or feeling. 

“Thanks Clarke. I’ll let you get back to Raven. I’m gonna go check in with the watch teams.”

And with that, Bellamy turned on his heels and made his way back across the camp, leaving Clarke standing alone next to the wall. She ran a hand through her damp blonde hair and shook her head. She let herself follow him with her gaze for only a moment before sweeping her eyes back towards her tent. 

Raven was still sitting where she had left her and the two immediately locked eyes. The brunette’s expression was for once unreadable, and Clarke wondered just how long she’d been watching the exchange between her and Bellamy. 

She went to take the first steps back towards her friend. She hadn’t looked away from Raven since their eyes had locked across the camp. So she had a clear view of the moment that Raven’s face went from expressionless to terror. Clarke watched as her eyes widened as they locked onto something behind the blonde. Her mouth opened as if to shout a warning of some sort, but whatever she was going to yell was drowned out by a sudden high pitched ringing. In the same moment, Clarke’s feet flew out from under her as her whole body was suddenly propelled off the ground and forward. 


	3. Chapter 3

Clarke groaned as her eyelids fluttered. Her body felt like lead except for her head which felt like there was a jackhammer going at it near the base of her skull. Sound came back before vision. There was still a constant high-pitched ring, but through that, she could hear the sounds of screaming and an odd popping noise. It was almost like gunfire but more hollow. Shapes began to emerge through the black spots in her vision. Flames danced to her right where what appeared to have once been a tent was quickly becoming nothing but a pile of ash. 

As she struggled to lift her body off the ground, Clarke took note of the bone-deep ache that seemed to have settled through the entire left side of her body. She must have landed on that side for the whole thing to feel like one big bruise. Glancing behind her, the blonde struggled to comprehend what had once been a portion of their wall. The section had seemingly been blown inward. The blast must have been what had sent her flying. 

Turning back towards the center of camp, Clarke saw only chaos. There were people running every which way. Those who had some semblance of composure had grabbed anything that could be used as a weapon and were grouping up as they searched for their enemies through the haze of smoke. But there didn’t seem to be any direct attack being mounted against them. Clarke’s brow furrowed as she watched the scene unfold. As members of the 100 scurried around in a panic, the strange popping noise would go off, but it didn’t seem to be coming from within the camp. Two other sections of the wall had been blown apart just like the one behind her. Whoever had orchestrated the explosion seemed to be content to not physically enter their camp yet. But that didn’t mean the attack wasn’t still ongoing. 

With each pop that Clarke could make out over the yells of the group, someone dropped to the ground. There were no cries of pain and no blood that she could see. They simply went from standing and panicking, to laid out on the ground and not moving. It didn’t make any sense. But as Clarke’s mind worked in overdrive to try to sort everything out, some instincts took over. She was directly in front of a breach to the wall. Standing up and making a run for it would only silhouette her in the light from the fires burning all over the place. She needed to move, but she needed to stay as low as possible.

Shifting into the lowest crouch she could, Clarke started moving towards where the most people were gathered. They all needed to get into the dropship. The walls had survived their crash landing onto the ground. They may be their only chance of surviving whatever the hell was going on right now. 

Moving as quickly as she dared, Clarke made her way to where she heard more than saw Bellamy trying to give orders to attack. She grit her teeth and stood up fully to sprint the last bit between them. Leave it to Blake to try to mount a counterattack against an enemy they couldn’t see. 

“Hey!” Clarke’s voice came out rougher than she anticipated. She must have inhaled a good amount of smoke and debris when the wall blew in. Still, everyone in her vicinity, including Bellamy, paused and turned towards her.

“Clarke! Are you alright?” 

“I’m fine, Bellamy. But none of us are going to stay that way if we don’t get into the dropship. Now.”

“The dropship? What are you talking about? We need to fight back!”

The small group gathered around the two leaders shifted nervously. Most of them were still scanning their surroundings for a threat. But it was clear that everyone was waiting to hear what the move was going to be. 

“Fight back against who, Blake? In case you didn’t notice, there isn’t a soul in sight. Yet something keeps dropping us like flies. We need cover. Now. Or there isn’t going to be any of us left to fight.”

Whatever argument Bellamy was about to make back was cut off by Miller hitting the ground next to him. There was some sort of dart sticking out of his neck. The scene had a desired effect in Clarke’s favor. Someone shouted ‘get to the dropship’ and everyone was off. 

People were knocking each other over in their haste to make it to what had been deemed to be safety. Clarke took a few steps to follow, but a sudden wave of dizziness hit her. She realized that she probably had suffered a concussion from the blow. Struggling to keep her feet under her, she staggered towards the dropship door. 

The mass movement of the group towards the ship didn’t go unnoticed by their attackers. Shapes moved out of the shadows just beyond the gaps in the wall. Whoever they were, they clearly didn’t want the delinquents making it onto the ship. One of them tossed some sort of canister in the direction of the fleeing group. As it hit the ground, thick red smoke began to pour from it. The effect was immediate to those in the vicinity. They dropped and didn’t get back up. 

Clarke took a deep breath and held it. Her body ached and was shaking. She could see the door but no matter how many steps she took, it didn’t seem to be getting any closer. She wasn’t going to make it. One knee hit the ground. Then the next. Her lungs burned from lack of oxygen, but the air around her was still tinged with pink. Inhaling would certainly mean she was done for. 

Her eyes met Bellamy’s as he stood at the entrance, hand on the lever. He needed to seal the door if those who made it in stood a chance. But he was staring at her in horror, frozen and unable to do what he had to. She tried to nod at him to do it, but she wasn’t so sure he could see her clearly enough to know what she was trying to say.

Suddenly, Raven appeared behind him. She spat something at him that Clarke couldn’t make out and then she was off, racing towards the blonde. Panic seized Clarke’s heart. Raven was running back out from safety for her. The attackers were closing in from the sides. They wore strange black suits with tubes going to the masks that covered their faces completely. Many were stopping and checking the bodies of the 100 that had fallen victim to the darts and gas. But there were still more advancing towards the ship, and towards where Raven was still running for Clarke. 

She tried to hold out a hand to get the mechanic to stop. She shook her head desperately. But Clarke knew it was no use. Raven wasn’t going to let Bellamy seal that door without getting Clarke inside of it. Even if she had to die trying. Clarke hated her for it in that moment. But she knew that if the roles were reversed, she would do the same thing. She had no moral high ground on Bellamy’s desire to risk everyone for Octavia.

Raven dropped down beside Clarke, holding her shirt over her mouth to try and filter the air. She didn’t say a word, just looped one of Clarke’s arms over her shoulders and stood back up, pulling the blonde with her. With Clarke leaning heavily on the brunette, the pair rushed as fast as they could towards the dropship. They were almost there when Raven let out a yelp and dropped to the ground next to Clarke. 

Clarke staggered and fell next to her. She saw the dart in the back of Raven’s thigh and her stomach dropped. Raven was lying face down in the dirt and not moving. Before Clarke could concentrate enough to check if she was breathing, Bellamy was there. He scooped the limp brunette up and over his shoulder before reaching back down and yanking Clarke back to her feet. 

The trio stumbled the last few steps up and into the dropship. Clarke pulled the lever without looking back. The world around her was spinning. Her lungs burned as she tried to suck in air that was thick with smoke and sweat. The door sealed and darkness settled over those huddled inside the safety of the dropship walls. 

“Raven,” Clarke gasped out, searching through the blackness for Bellamy. 

“I’ve got her Clarke. Let’s move further in.” 

Clarke followed the sound of Bellamy’s voice. Her vision slowly adjusted as flashlights were clicked on here and there. As shapes came into focus, Clarke automatically began taking note of who all had made it inside and what condition they were each in. The leader and medic that was ingrained into who she was as a person couldn’t help starting to organize what efforts were going to be needed in the wake of the attack. But even as she did this, it was almost subconscious because consciously her primary focus was on Raven. 

Bellamy had settled the brunette onto a makeshift hammock. Clarke brushed past him and crouched next to the girl. She could hear Bellamy telling her that she was okay and that Clarke needed to lay down too, not worry about the others right now. But it was as if he was speaking to her from far away, his words muffled. She focused on her friend who lay unmoving next to her. She was going to kill her if she wasn’t already dead. How dare she run out of safety like that for Clarke, who’d already lost too many people she cared about. How could she think that it would be better to try to save Clarke’s life at the cost of her own? 

Reaching out slowly, Clarke’s hand trembled as she brushed brown hair to the side to reveal the skin on Raven’s neck where her pulse would be if she was still alive. It was almost as though she was watching her own actions from outside of her body. Clarke could see the shake in her own fingers as she gently pressed them against warm skin. It took only a moment before she was sure that it wasn’t her imagination. Raven’s heartbeat was steady and strong under her fingertips. 

Clarke choked out a sob of relief. Now that she could feel the proof of life, it was as if the haze had lifted. She could see the flush on Raven’s cheeks and the rise and fall of her chest. She was alive. Whatever she’d been shot with was merely a sedative of some sort. A sedative. Shit. 

Clarke quickly stood and rolled Raven partially over, scanning the backs of her legs for the dart that had rendered her unconscious. Panic began to set back in when she couldn’t find it. The longer it stayed embedded in the skin, the more likely it would be that the effects lasted too long. 

A warm, strong hand clasped Clarke’s shoulder from behind, steadying her while turning her until she was face to face with Bellamy. 

“Breathe, Princess. I already pulled the dart out before I laid her down. I may not be a doctor but even I know that thing shouldn’t stay in her.”

The panic subsided. The dart was out. Raven was alive. Clarke realized that she needed to step it up. While she’d been busy worrying about only Raven, others who made it to safety could be needing her help. 

“Right. Good. I’m just gonna check on everyone-”

She took a step towards the remaining members of the group but it was as if her body could no longer support itself. The adrenaline she’d been running on was fading. Her head felt like it was exploding from the inside out. The entire left side of her body ached with each thump of her heart. Her throat and lungs still burned from whatever she had all breathed in. She was shaking and her visions suddenly went hazy again. 

Bellamy caught her as she fell. 

“I’ve got you, Princess. You did good. Just rest for a bit. I’ll take care of everyone.”

As the world darkened around her, Clarke felt Bellamy place her on some blankets in the corner near where Raven laid. Her last thought before she fell into unconsciousness was 59. That was how many bodies her hasty subconscious counting had calculated inside the dropship. 100 sent down. 102 with the surprises of Bellamy and Raven. 97 after deaths were subtracted. 96 if Octavia was considered gone. They’d started today with 96. Now there were only 59. Darkness claimed Clarke and she didn’t try to fight it. She had felt something awful was coming. And it had.


	4. Chapter 4

“Why hasn’t she woken up yet? Are you sure she wasn’t hit with one of those darts too?”

“For the tenth time, yes I’m sure. She probably just needed rest. She’ll wake up when her body’s ready.”

“But she practically got blown up with the wall. She probably has a concussion. Aren’t people with concussions supposed to like not be allowed to sleep right after?” 

“Do I look like a fucking doctor to you, Raven?” 

Clarke groaned as the voices next to her got louder. 

“Clarke?”

That was Raven. Her eyelids felt like sandpaper as they scraped over her eyes, and the light was blinding at first, but soon enough her friend came into focus. 

“Hey Princess, how are you feeling?” 

Bellamy’s face took form over Raven’s shoulder. Clarke swallowed and tried to respond but her mouth was so dry. Thankfully, Raven seemed to understand what she needed because a cup filled with water was held out for her a moment later. 

Clarke drank greedily. It felt as though she hadn’t consumed water for weeks and had spent that time in a desert. The liquid wasn’t even close to cold, but it felt like heaven running down her parched throat. Once she had taken as much as she could stomach for the moment, Clarke passed the cup back to Raven and struggled to sit up.

“Easy there, take it slow,” Bellamy reached out to help her, “You’ve been out for a bit. Just take your time.” 

“I’m alright. What happened? How long have I been out? Are we still under attack? Who all made it in?” 

“Whoa, slow down there. One question at a time.” 

Clarke just glared at Raven until she relented, holding up her hands in surrender. 

“Jeesh, okay. Should have known even getting nearly blown up wouldn’t unwind you one bit.” 

Bellamy tried to mask his snort of laughter as a cough. Clarke raised an eyebrow at the pair. If Raven was making jokes and Bellamy was standing here letting her, then things must at least be okay for the moment. She made to stand up but was quickly met with Raven’s hands pushing her back down.

“Oh no you don’t. You’re not going anywhere until we make sure you’re actually okay.”

“When did you become a doctor, Ray? Oh wait, you’re not. But I am, and I say I’m fine.” 

Clarke’s voice was sharp. She moved to stand again, and this time Raven didn’t do anything to stop her. She seemed frozen in shock by the harshness of the blonde’s tone. Clarke couldn’t bring herself to worry about that now. She turned her gaze to Bellamy who was glancing between the two uneasily. 

“What’s the status report, Blake?” 

“Um,” he glanced towards Raven before meeting Clarke’s hard gaze. “Right, so we’re no longer under attack. You were out for about 32 hours. We stopped hearing any movement about 8 hours after sealing ourselves in here. We waited for another 4 to be sure and then opened the door. The Grounders were long gone. But so were all the people who’d been knocked out.” 

Bellamy looked away. It was clear that the loss of so many was tearing him apart. Clarke felt sick just hearing it. But she needed to know where they stood, even if the answers were harder than the questions themselves.

“How many?”

Bellamy couldn’t meet Clarke’s eyes as he swallowed before taking a deep breath. His voice was quiet, but the break in it was still detectable as he spoke. 

“63. There’s 63 of us left.”

Clarke schooled her features at his answer doing her best not to flinch or react in any way. Her subconscious counting must have been off, which wasn’t surprising considering she definitely had suffered a concussion. Still, she could have sworn that there had only been 59 bodies in the dropship before she passed out. 

Despite her efforts to maintain a steady facial expression, Clarke’s confusion must have shown through on her face. Raven cleared her throat and took over explaining exactly what had happened in the 32 hours the blonde had been out. 

“There were 59 of us that made it onto the dropship during the attack. Like Bellamy said, it took about 8 hours until no movement could be heard outside. We waited another 4 before opening the door just in case. There was no one to be seen once we got back out there. All of the bodies of the kids who went down… they were just gone.” Raven swallowed hard, her throat bobbing in her effort to maintain a business-like manner as she gave Clarke the information she knew her friend wanted. 

“How are there 63 of us? You said only 59 made it inside?” 

Raven glanced at Bellamy to see if he would be taking over briefing Clarke and answering her question, but the older boy was still standing there avoiding eye contact, his gaze fixed pointedly at the floor. She knew that he was struggling with losing so many of the 100. Their safety had somehow become the responsibility of himself and Clarke, and the loss of so many was a failure that felt like an unbearable burden. Raven sighed before turning back to Clarke. 

“Yeah, 59 of us made it inside, but another 4 were outside the wall when the attack happened. It was 2 couples. They had snuck out earlier in the day. Something about the rain and romance. I honestly didn’t care to hear their reasoning. We were just glad to have them back with us safe. I don’t know how the people who attacked us missed seeing them out there.” 

Clarke nodded. 63 accounted for. Which left 33 of their people gone. In just one day they had lost a third of their group. She didn’t want to think of them as dead. Only lost. Missing. Taken. While it may not have been a completely realistic hope to hold on to, Clarke reasoned with herself that the attack against them had been mounted with non-lethals. Sedative darts and some sort of knock-out gas. If the goal had merely been to kill them, more deadly means could have been used in the attack. The group clearly had no real means of defending themselves aside from hiding in their dropship. No, death wasn’t the goal. Which meant that those who were gone could still be alive. They had to be. And that meant that they needed to be rescued. 

Feeling her resolve strengthen now that she had a goal of sorts to focus on, Clarke stood up, surprising both Raven and Bellamy who had still been standing silently in front of the hammock the blonde had been in. Raven took a step back to give her more space, and that’s when Clarke noticed the limp and makeshift splint on her friend’s leg. Her newfound focus immediately shifted. 

“Raven, what happened?” Clarke’s voice was sharp. Raven shifted her weight in discomfort under the gaze of the blonde and then promptly flinched at the resulting pain of the added pressure to her injury. 

“It’s nothing. Just tweaked my ankle a bit during the rush. Don’t worry about it, it’s all good. Splinted it up and keeping it elevated when I sit or lay down. Injuries happen when you get surprise-attacked, ya know. There are plenty of others who you should probably check in on though if you’re looking to go all doctor on someone’s ass.” 

The attempt at lighthearted humor was met with an unimpressed glare. Clarke wasn’t stupid. Raven was carried onto the dropship by Bellamy after being hit with the dart. Which would mean that in order for her ankle to have been hurt during the attack it would have had to happen either on her initial rush onto the dropship, or during her stupid hero act when she ran back out for Clarke. And judging by the mechanic’s attempt to blow it off, Clarke had a pretty good guess as to which it was. 

“Sit down and let me see it.” 

“Princess, really, it’s fine. It’s wrapped up all nice. I’m good.”

“Raven Reyes, sit your ass down right now!” 

Clarke hadn’t meant to snap. Seeing Raven flinch again, and this time not from physical pain, twisted her stomach. But if the brunette had gotten herself hurt while trying to get Clarke to safety then there was no way that she was going to not make checking the injury her first priority. 

Raven stepped carefully past Clarke and sat down on the hammock. Bellamy cleared his throat. 

“Once you’re ready Clarke, we really could use your help with a few others who got banged up. I’ve done what I could, but, well, you’re the doc.” 

Clarke spared a moment to study Bellamy’s face. She could see that he was shaken up over everything that had happened, and Clarke couldn’t blame him. She reached out and gripped his arm, waiting for him to actually look her in the eyes. Channeling her inner doctor, Clarke spoke soft and gentle. 

“Hey. This isn’t on you. I’ll be out in a few to do what I can. But I’m sure that you’ve already gotten things sorted. And once we’ve all recuperated a bit, we’ll get our people back. Yeah?” 

Bellamy’s eyes seemed to search hers. The browns were filled with pain and Clarke had to work to not let herself react to them. Seeing others in pain always triggered her need to fix. But she only knew treatments for physical pain, and the eldest Blake was clearly feeling a different kind of pain. So the best that Clarke could do for him was to be calm and collected even when the weight of everything felt like it was suffocating her. She had to stay focused. Raven’s injury. The other injuries of the 63. And then getting back the 33. That was her plan. Raven’s injury. The injuries of the 63. Getting back the 33. She repeated it like a mantra in her mind. It would keep her standing. Moving. Not paralyzed by reality. 

Bellamy seemed to find whatever he was searching for in her gaze. He straightened and nodded once, seeming to steel himself in her resolve as though he could sense it. 

“I’m glad you’re okay, Princess. We need you. I- I need you.” 

He leaned to kiss the top of Clarke’s head, and then Bellamy spun quickly on his heels and walked swiftly away, exiting the dropship entirely. 

Clarke was shocked still for a long moment. By both his admission and the kiss. But she quickly shook herself out of it, deciding it was almost brotherly, something he would have done with Octavia. Her focus shifted back to her friend and she turned back to face Raven, who was still sitting on the hammock. 

Under different circumstances, Clarke would have noticed the almost angry set to the mechanic’s face and the way that her eyes seemed to have tracked Bellamy’s departure. But now that they were alone and Clarke’s mind had returned to Raven and her injury, her own anger rushed to the surface. 

Stepping forward so that she was right at the edge of the hammock, Clarke punched her friend in the shoulder. 

Raven fell to lay on her back and glared up at the blonde. 

“Hey! What the-” 

Her exclamation was cut off by Clarke yanking her back up and almost off the hammock entirely to wrap her in a tight hug. Raven wrapped her arms around the blonde in return. They stood, Clarke practically holding Raven, wrapped around each other for a long moment. Then just as abruptly as it started, Clarke released the mechanic, letting her fall back onto the hammock, and glared angrily at her once more. Raven held up a hand in surrender. 

“Please don’t hit me again, Princess. The assault to hugging to dropping is giving me whiplash. How about you use your words, yeah?” 

Clarke had to fight to not crack a smile hearing the quip out of her best friend. Her lips twitched, but the glare remained. Raven sighed. This wasn’t going to end well. 

Clarke bit her lip, eyes narrowed. It was clear that she did have words to say. Lots of them. And maybe a few more punches if she was being honest. And probably another hug or two as well. But all of that would have to wait. She was going to be a doctor first and an angry friend second. 

Releasing a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, Clarke dropped to her knees and gently lifted Raven’s injured leg into her lap. The brunette slid forward to the edge of the hammock and looked down at the blonde, watching as Clarke slowly and carefully undid the makeshift brace Raven had rigged up for herself. She then loosened the laces completely on the older girl’s boot and gently pulled it off with one hand while using her other to stabilize the leg to try to keep it from being jostled. With the brace and boot out of the way, Clarke tugged up on the leg of Raven’s pants and pulled her sock down to expose her ankle. 

Even with years of working with her mother in medical, Clarke was unable to stifle the soft gasp that escaped past her lips at the sight of her friend’s injury. The area around her ankle was bruised and swollen. But it was the obvious fracture that tore the sound of shock from the blonde. She didn’t understand how Raven had even been up and walking around, brace or no brace. Scratch that, of course she understood. The brunette was the most stubborn person Clarke had ever met, surpassing even herself. But bone clearly needed to be reset if it was going to heal properly. Something that Clarke knew was going to hurt and would require that Raven kept herself immobile in the aftermath. Raven, who didn’t know how to stay still for longer than a moment unless she was sleeping. It was going to drive her mad to be told that she was essentially going to have to be on bed-rest for even just a few days. A week would be preferable. That would probably seem like an eternity to the mechanic. All for an injury that she never would have gotten if it weren’t for Clarke. 

Raven swallowed hard as the blonde looked up from her ankle. Blue eyes were filled with pain and guilt. She knew that Clarke had done the math and realized that the injury had occurred when Raven had raced back out from the dropship to help the younger girl to safety. And she could see now the blame that Clarke was placing on herself. The pain in her eyes, caused by the belief that it was her fault that Raven was in pain herself. 

“Hey,” Raven reached down to cup Clarke’s cheek in her hand. “It’s not that bad. I’m okay.” 

Clarke didn’t pull away but slowly shook her head, tears springing up to pool in her eyes. 

“It’s broken. I’m going to need to reset it. And that is going to hurt as if it’s being broken all over again.” Her voice was nothing more than a whisper. 

Raven’s lips tilted into a small smile. “I’m a tough cookie. I can take it. It’s just a little break, Clarke. I’ll be back up and running in no time. It’s okay, Princess.” 

There was a moment of silence as Raven continued to hold Clarke’s gaze, searching those blue eyes she’d come to know and read so well. Well enough that she saw the moment that her friend tipped over the edge. But it still wasn’t enough to keep her from jumping at the sudden increase in volume as Clarke began yelling.

“Okay? Okay?! Are you kidding me, Raven?! Nothing about this is okay! Yeah, it’s just a break. A break that is bad enough that your bones need to be pushed back into the proper place in order to heal! A break that is going to take weeks to fully heal! A break that is going to leave you vulnerable which is the last thing anyone can afford to be here on the godforsaken ground! A break- a break-'' Clarke's voice finally broke, her final words coming out as barely a whisper once more. “A break that never would have happened if you hadn’t been stupid enough to run back out into danger for me.” 

Raven had tears of her own threatening to spill over. Of course, that was the root of it, just as she had known it would be. Clarke was tearing herself to pieces because in her mind Raven was hurt because she tried to save her. She thought that if Raven hadn’t done what she did then she would be fine. But that’s where she was wrong. 

“Clarke,” Raven waited until Clarke’s eyes locked with hers once more. “I would take every bone in my body being broken over losing you. Yes, my leg hurts and recovery is gonna be a bitch. But it is nothing compared to the pain that I’d be feeling if I’d just stayed in the dropship and left you out there to be taken. You’re my family, remember? You and me, we’ve got each other. We’ve lost everyone we love in one way or another, but we still have each other. That’s what you told me. You’re all I’ve got, Clarke. So yeah, it is okay. Because we’re both still here. A little bruised and banged up, but here. Together. Okay?” 

Both girls had lost the battle to hold back tears. Clarke was shaking in an effort to maintain some semblance of composure. She knew that what Raven was saying was the truth. That the mechanic meant it when she said she’d take broken bone after broken bone over losing Clarke. The blonde knew it was the truth because if the situation was reversed she would be assuring Raven of the same thing. But that didn’t lessen her guilt or anger. Because Raven had risked so much more than just a broken bone by running back out into danger. And that terrified Clarke. More than her own death or capture did. And so while she understood exactly where Raven was coming from, she also couldn’t just let it go. 

“I need to reset this now. Before it starts to heal wrong. You may want to bite down on something.” 

Clarke couldn’t meet Raven’s eyes as she spoke. She was angry. And her guilt over the injury was being compounded over the guilt of not being able to tell her friend that it was okay and that she understood. Raven was someone who was constantly joking and making jibes. She so rarely let her walls down. But she just had, and Clarke knew that her own inability to get past her anger and guilt to tell Raven that it was okay was going to hurt the brunette almost as much as what she was about to do to her leg was going to. 

“Clarke…”

“Just bite down on something, Raven.” 

The mechanic swallowed hard. She clenched her jaw and looked away from the blonde at her feet who refused to meet her eyes or acknowledge what she’d said. Her eyes landed instead on a rag laying on the hammock next to her. She grabbed it and shoved it between her teeth. 

Clarke carefully positioned her hands around the break. She didn’t glance up at Raven again, knowing that it wouldn’t make this any easier. Instead, she took a steadying breath and when she spoke again her voice was devoid of all emotion. 

“I’m going to count to three and then reset it. Try not to tense up, it’ll make it worse. One. Two.” 

Clarke pushed and pulled in one swift motion, manipulating the bone back into place. She whispered three to herself once it was done. But it couldn’t be heard over the sound of Raven’s muffled scream. 


	5. Chapter 5

Clarke took a deep breath, holding the crisp air in her lungs until they burned and then slowly exhaling. Winter was creeping closer. Every day the temperature seemed to drop a little more. In the early morning hours, you could see your breath on every exhale. The leaves on the trees had started shifting color, something she remembered learning in her Earth Studies class. It meant autumn. The season right before winter. 

It had been a week since the attack. Clarke had spent every day attending to the numerous injuries of the remaining members of the 100. Most just had superficial cuts from the explosions and bruises from the chaotic scramble to the dropship. Raven’s ankle had been the worst of the injuries. 

After resetting it, Clarke had made some slight modifications to the brace the mechanic had constructed. Making it more sturdy and ensuring it held the girl’s lower leg and ankle completely immobile. The brunette had been ordered to bed rest. She wasn’t allowed up except to relieve herself. The hammock in the dropship had become hers for the time being rather than the tent they’d been sharing. Clarke brought her food for each meal and checked in on her medically. They hadn’t spoken outside of basic courtesies and medical checks since Clarke had reset the bone. 

Clarke hated it. She missed her friend terribly. But she was still working to make peace with what Raven had risked for her. So she busied herself with tending to others, and once there were no more patients, she helped with the reconstruction of the camp’s wall. 

The decision to remain at the camp after the attack was not reached peacefully. In fact, Clarke and Bellamy had so wholeheartedly disagreed on the matter, that it resulted in a full-on screaming match in the middle of the camp. Bellamy wanted them all to leave as soon as possible. He insisted that they were in danger there because clearly, the grounders knew where they were. Clarke opposed this belief on two fronts. 

For one thing, she didn’t believe it was the grounders that had attacked them. At least not the ones that they were familiar with. The non-lethal weapons were far advanced from the arrows and spears they’d faced previously. Grounders used trees, whereas whoever attacked them and took their friends had used some sort of vehicle. They’d found some tracks, though they’d lost them at a river. The use of vehicles explained how they’d been able to take 33 bodies and seemingly vanish. But it didn’t match with everything they’d come to know about the grounders, even if their knowledge was still extremely limited. 

Clarke also disagreed that leaving was the smart move. Yes, the grounders and whoever else was out there knew where they were. But the grounders had known where they were from the moment the dropship landed. And that dropship was the only true protection they had. 63 people trying to navigate the forest to find someplace safe to set up camp completely undetected was an absurd plan. Staying and rebuilding their walls, while also fortifying the dropship as much as possible, was the smart move. 

The two leaders had screamed at each other for almost an hour going in circles around the decision. Clarke had even thrown the low punch by asking how Octavia would feel if she came back to find the camp abandoned. She was honestly surprised the oldest Blake hadn’t charged her in that moment. But in the end, a vote was taken. It was nearly unanimous. The remaining 61 saw both Bellamy and Clarke as their leaders. In that moment it wasn’t more faith in one over the other that won out. Rather, it was the safety, comfort, and familiarity of the camp, and especially the dropship, that won them over to Clarke’s side on the matter. They voted to stay and rebuild. Bellamy had barely looked at Clarke since the decision was made. That was two days ago. 

Between not really speaking with Raven and Bellamy doing his best to ignore and avoid her at all costs, Clarke was left with plenty of time to think. As she helped to rebuild and secure the camp her mind would race. The people that had attacked them had wanted those that they took to be alive. That meant that they probably needed them for something. But nothing Clarke came up with made sense. She couldn’t imagine taking any of her people would be useful to the masked strangers. 

And that was another fact that didn’t add up. Their masks. Three nights after the attack she’d used some charcoal and a scrap of cloth to draw what she could remember of what the attackers looked like. Between the chaos of it all, her concussion, and the less than ideal drawing tools, the sketch was rough at best. She showed it to some of the others around camp to see if they recalled anything concrete about what the attackers looked like. Most that she talked to didn’t see anyone as they had already fled into the dropship before the strangers had begun to move forward into the actual camp. But Monty had confirmed that what Clarke had seen and drawn was correct. The people wore masks with a tube coming out of them and leading to some sort of tank. He said it reminded him of a spacesuit. And that’s when it clicked for Clarke.

Oxygen. For whatever reason, the attackers weren’t breathing the air. But that didn’t help her to make any more sense of anything. The air was breathable. None of the 100 sent down had died of radiation. It didn’t make sense. 

Clarke would go around in circles about it all, trying to understand why they’d been attacked, but eventually, her frustration at never coming up with any plausible answer would win out. Instead, she would switch to thinking about the bigger problem the group faced. How to get their people back. 

She knew from Raven and Bellamy that the tire tracks had been found by a scouting team they’d sent out as soon as it was safe to leave the dropship. But those tracks had been lost at a river and since then it had rained hard twice so any hopes of finding some trail to follow were completely dashed. Vehicles also meant that the distance their friends could have been taken was a lot farther than any of their group had dared to venture out on foot. When Clarke had dared to bring her thoughts of a rescue mission to Bellamy the older boy had all but laughed in her face. He believed that their people had been taken far beyond their reach and were already dead. But Clarke refused to believe that. Not yet. 

She wished that she could bring all of this to Raven. The mechanic would probably be able to tell her things about the range and speed of vehicles that Clarke had no idea about. But the older girl was still on her mandated bed rest and their conversations were awkward at the best and non-existent at the worst. So Clarke resigned herself to trying to puzzle it all out on her own. 

The one thing that she had decided was to not necessarily believe that Bellamy was right about their friends being out of reach. She reasoned that in order to have known what parts of the wall to blow in, the people that attacked them would have to have been watching their camp. If they used vehicles every time surely the group would have heard them or found some tracks. So that could mean that they potentially weren’t as far away as the use of vehicles originally led her to think. If the attackers came to watch the camp on foot, that would mean they had to be somewhat close. Of course, if they knew the forest, a short hike to them could still be a long one to her and the rest of the 100. However, that’s where the masks came in again. If they truly were being used for oxygen, and they couldn’t breathe the air, then the hike would have to be short enough that they wouldn’t run out of air. 

Clarke was feeling pretty proud of herself for reasoning that all out. She was sitting outside her tent trying to soften the grip on her makeshift dagger with some cloth when Monty came over. 

“Hey Clarke, you got a minute?”

“Sure Monty, what’s up?”

The younger boy sat down next to Clarke and pointed to her sketch of the attackers that was sitting out next to her backpack. 

“I was thinking about the masks that they were wearing. Trying to figure out why they’d have them on when the air was breathable. And then I realized I was overthinking it way too much.”

Clarke stopped what she was doing and shifted to face the dark-haired boy.

“How so?” 

“The masks probably did supply them with clean O2. But not because the air, in general, is toxic to them. Just the air during the attack.”

“What does that mean?”

“They threw those canisters with the red smoke. It knocked out anyone who breathed it in. Their masks were probably just to prevent them from falling victim to their own weapons.” 

Clarke felt her stomach drop. Of course. Everything the boy was saying made sense. Monty was a smart kid, and she wasn’t surprised he’d connected dots she hadn’t even seen. But if what he was saying was correct, and it made sense that it would be, then her calculations about how far away her friends were taken just went out the window. The attackers didn’t need the oxygen to breathe so there was no time confinement. They could travel as long as it took to get to wherever they came from. 

Something about her facial expression must have tipped Monty off to her despair. He reached out and gently placed his hand on her knee. 

“What’s wrong?” Monty’s voice was soft.

“I just want something to make sense. Something that I can use or go off of to help me come up with a plan to get our people back.” 

Clarke wasn’t sure why she was choosing to confide in Monty, but after not having Raven or Bellamy around it was nice to have someone listening. 

“Get them back? You really think they’re still alive?” 

Unlike when Bellamy had posed the same question, Monty’s voice wasn’t filled with a condescending edge. He was genuinely curious.

“I do. If they wanted us dead they would have killed us during the attack. They made the conscious decision to use non-lethal force. And then they took those that were knocked out. It wouldn’t make sense for them to go through all that trouble just to immediately kill them.” 

“But why take us?” 

“I wish I knew. Nearest I can guess is that they need us for something. But I have no clue what use we could be of to them. I just hope that whatever the reason is, it buys those taken enough time to stay alive until I can figure out how to find them and get them back.” 

“Until we.”

“What?”

“You said ‘until I can get them back’, but it’s until we. I want to help Clarke. And I’m sure I’m not the only one. Almost everyone left is friends with someone who was taken.” 

Clarke looked up and met Monty’s eyes that shone with tears. 

“Who…?” 

“Jasper.” 

“I’m so sorry, Monty. I didn’t even realize. I mean I knew the list of who was taken but I’ve just been so caught up trying to… I’m sorry.” 

Shaking his head, Monty gave Clarke a small smile, “It’s okay. I get it. You’ve kinda got a lot on your plate running this place. Which you’re pretty awesome at by the way. A lot better than Bellamy,” he paused with wide eyes, “Um please don’t tell him I said that. He kinda scares me.” 

Clarke laughed. A real, full laugh. The first one in what felt like weeks. Monty joined in and the two laughed together for a long moment before she gently nudged his shoulder with her own. 

“Your secret’s safe with me, Green.” 

“Thanks, Clarke.” 

“No, thank you. Really.” 

Monty didn’t question the sincerity in the blonde’s tone. It was clear that she was saying thank you for more than just his compliment, but he didn’t pry. Instead, he jumped to his feet and brushed the dirt off his pants. 

“Alright, I’m gonna go make sure the idiots I left sorting out our plant rations haven’t accidentally gotten high without me. But let me know if you need an ear to bounce ideas off of. I’ll be there.” 

Clarke nodded with a smile and Monty turned and headed back towards the other side of camp. 

Talking with the younger boy had released some of the tension that had been building in the blonde. Sure, his revelation about the masks had dashed the small amount of progress she’d thought she had made, but she still somehow felt more hopeful than she had before. Monty had listened to her case about the others still being alive and not only believed her but had wanted to help get them back if the opportunity presented itself. It was nice to know that she wouldn’t have to fight that battle alone. 

Clarke returned her focus to her knife as her thoughts once again started to spin with different ideas of how to figure out where the 33 had been taken. She didn’t get far before a shadow fell over her. Looking up from her work, she found that she was once again not alone outside her tent. This time it was Bellamy who had joined her. 

Unlike Monty, the older boy offered no greeting. He simply waited until they’d made eye contact before sitting down beside her. Clarke waited a moment, studying his side-profile, but when he made no move to speak she turned her attention back to her knife. She pulled out the stone she’d been using to help sharpen the blade and began the process of carefully gliding the metal along the stone. She was slow and methodical in her actions. Being too hasty in the task had only led to cut fingers; a lesson she had learned quickly. 

Clarke had her blade about as sharp as it could be before Bellamy decided to break the silence. He sighed heavily beside her and she stilled her movements. Turning towards him, she found his dark eyes already on her. She hadn’t even noticed that he’d shifted to watch her as she worked. Now they locked eyes, blue meeting brown. Clarke raised an eyebrow at the boy beside her. inviting him to say whatever it was that he’d been chewing on since he sat down beside her. 

“I think you might be right. I needed a minute to cool down and think it through clearly, but I think that there might be something to the idea that the ones the grounders took could still be alive.” 

Clarke could see from the tense set of his shoulders how hard it was for Bellamy to admit that he’d been wrong. And while she understood that kind of pride all too well herself, she also knew that as leaders they couldn’t afford to let their ego stand in the way of level-headedness. She wasn’t about to let him off easy just because he was now finally coming to his senses. 

“The grounders didn’t take them. At least not the people we refer to as grounders.” 

She was ready for his argument. She was ready for his exasperation. Honestly, Clarke was ready for this to end up in another screaming match. What she was not ready for, however, was his response. 

Bellamy let out another heavy sigh and dropped his gaze, avoiding giving the blonde next to him any eye contact. 

“I know. You were right about that too.” 

Clarke couldn’t stop her jaw from dropping slightly at his admission. She really had not been ready for it. But she quickly corrected her shocked expression as Bellamy lifted his face to meet hers once more. 

“I didn’t want to believe that there could be others out there. It’s easier to unite a group when there’s one common enemy. Trojans versus Spartans. But against two enemies? For all we know maybe even more? It’s hard to think we’d even stand a chance. I didn’t want to believe that. But like I said, I cooled off and actually tried using my head for once, and you’re right. The people that we call grounders are different from whoever attacked us.” 

Clarke studied the dark-haired boy before her. His tone was subdued but honest. Of course, he would be looking at this like one of the Greek legends from the time before the bombs. Anyone who names their little sister ‘Octavia’ clearly has a soft spot for the ancient stories. His eyes, always the most expressive part about him, were earnest as he waited for her to say something. Begging her to see that he was sorry even though he hadn’t said the words aloud. She turned away from his gaze and let out a sigh of her own. 

“It’s hard to wrap your mind around. I get that. We’ve spent the last century thinking that the last of the human race was everyone up on the Ark. To suddenly find ourselves on a habitable Earth, being attacked on multiple fronts, by humans that we had no idea have survived… it’s a lot.” 

“Yeah. That might be the understatement of the year, Princess.” 

Clarke didn’t stop the slight upward curl of her lips at the name. Normally it was used as a dig at her when he said it, but right now, it was just Bellamy’s way of trying to get back to their normal footing. 

“It might be, yeah. But it’s also the reality that we’re living in. And the sooner we accept that the sooner we can figure out how the hell to survive this.” 

“I’m just gonna say I’ve learned my lesson and agree that you’re right immediately rather than wait a few days and have to come back with my tail between my legs.” 

“Aw, and whoever said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?” 

Bellamy let out a loud laugh and Clarke didn’t stop herself from grinning. As much as she sometimes hated that he’d somehow become her counterpart in leading the group of delinquents sent to the ground, she had to admit that it was nice to have someone else to help carry the load. And when he actually took his head out of his ass they made a pretty decent team. Clarke was relieved that he seemed to have come to his senses about the attack. It would be easier to come up with some sort of plan if they were on the same side instead of butting heads over every decision. Now she just needed to fix things with Raven. 

As if he could read her mind, Bellamy stood up from where he’d been sitting next to Clarke and turned to face her. The serious face he wore was a sharp contrast to the laugh they’d been sharing moments before. 

“Clarke. I know that I don’t have much of a leg to stand on when it comes to relationships with the people I love most. I mean, clearly, I drove my own sister away.” The older boy did his best to mask the pain in his voice at his mention of Octavia, but it was still evident. “I care about her so much, more than anything else in this world, and I’d give anything to have her back here so that I could tell her that. So that I could do better.” 

“Bell…” 

“No, just listen. Please.” There was a slight quiver in Bellamy’s voice now. Clarke nodded for him to continue. “Just don’t be like me. Don’t try so hard to protect the people who you care about that you end up actually hurting them in the process.” 

Clarke’s lower lip snagged between her teeth and she looked away from the boy standing in front of her. She knew exactly what he was referring to, but she couldn’t bring herself to acknowledge it to him or to herself. Bellamy saved her the trouble of having to. He lowered himself until he was balancing on his toes in front of her, squatting down to her level. He waited until her watery blue eyes met his. 

“Go fix things with Raven. Before it’s too late. The ground is a messed up, shitty place. But you managed to find a best friend down here. She balances you out and actually gets you to unwind. At least sometimes.” He smiled as his words managed to tug the corners of the blonde’s lips up slightly. “You need her. And she needs you. So stop being such a hard-head like me and go talk to her. Fix things. And then thank me later, Princess.” 

Clake let out a choked chuckle. She wiped the one tear that had slipped out and nodded at the older boy. Bellamy gave her one of his rare lopsided grins before standing back up. 

“I’m gonna go and check in with the watch team and then see how the progress is coming on the secondary wall over on the west side. I’ll catch ya later, Princess.” 

“Sounds good Bell.” 

With that, Bellamy turned and made his way back across the camp. Clarke took a steadying breath and looked down at her knife that was still sitting in her lap. She hadn’t quite finished the handle yet. The grip wasn’t as comfortable as she knew she could get it. But Bellamy’s parting advice kept running on repeat through her head. She knew that the older boy was right. She also knew that if she sat and over thought it for too long she would lose any resolve his words had mustered in her. Taking another deep breath, Clarke stood up. She slid the knife into the makeshift sheath she’d fashioned for herself and brushed any loose dirt from her pants. With a final ‘Don’t be a coward’ muttered to herself under her breath, Clarke set off for the dropship door. 


	6. Chapter 6

The dropship door was left open almost constantly during the day in order to allow light inside. At night it was closed to try to conserve heat as the temperature continued to reach new lows with each passing day. Clarke walked purposefully up the ramp like any woman with a mission would, but her steps slowed considerably once she was inside. Even with the door open, it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. The first level had become their version of a medbay. Anyone who was hurt or who didn’t have a tent slept there. The area was split into small sections that kids had claimed as their own. Thanks to the solar-charging batteries that came down with them as part of their very limited supplies, the group could afford to have some of their lanterns strung up across the level to provide a limited light source. Clarke squinted as her vision adjusted and slowly made her way to the back of the level where Raven had made her stake since her injury. 

The mechanic was laid out on a sleeping bag with her bad leg propped up on her backpack. She was fiddling with some wires and scrap parts that Clarke had no name for. As the blonde got closer, Raven’s movements stilled and she looked up to meet her friend’s gaze. Her expressionless face didn’t waver as Clarke closed the last few feet of distance between them. The two stared at each other for a long moment, not saying anything. 

Seeing no signs of emotion in the brown eyes that would normally sparkle with mischief the moment they met her own, Clarke was tempted to turn around a run. Run away from the pain and awkwardness of the conversation that was about to happen. Run away from the fear that gripped her heart at the thought that it was too late. Run away from her best friend and the only person she had left to call family. But she knew she couldn’t because Raven was her best friend and her family, and she owed it to the girl to be honest about why she was so upset even if it wasn’t easy for her to put into words.

Letting out the breath that she hadn’t realized she was holding, Clarke lowered herself to the ground until she was sitting next to Raven’s bed with her back against the dropship wall. Her body was angled to be facing the same way the brunette was laying so that she wasn’t directly facing her. It would make saying what she needed to say a little bit easier, but it also meant that she missed the raised eyebrow from her friend at her chosen movement. By the time she’d settled, Raven’s face had returned to its guarded emptiness. 

Clarke knew that there was no good way to ease into what needed to be said, and she was quite certain that if she attempted to just sit in silence and wait for the mechanic to speak first it wouldn’t end well. So with one more mental ‘Don’t be a coward’, she bit the bullet. 

“I know the way I’ve been acting probably has seemed really unfair and unwarranted. I’m not here to try to make an excuse for the behavior. I guess I just felt that I owed it to you to at least explain.” 

Raven didn’t say a word, and Clarke didn’t want her to. She knew that she needed to get everything out as uninterrupted as possible so she wouldn’t chicken out. But she was relieved to see in her peripheral that the older girl’s face had relaxed its carefully constructed mask at her opening words. 

“I know that being upset that you ran back out to help me makes me a hypocrite because I would have done the exact same thing if the situation was reversed. Nothing would have stopped me from running back out if it was you that wasn’t gonna make it to safety on your own. Because you’re my best friend and the only person I’ve got left.” 

“Clarke-” 

“No, please. Please just let me get this out.” 

Clarke looked up to meet Raven’s gaze as she cut the girl off, her eyes pleading more than her words for the brunette to not say anything. Not yet. Raven sighed but nodded, signaling for her friend to continue. 

“I know that I can’t claim any sort of monopoly on the pain of losing someone you care about. I’m not the only person to ever have shitty things happen to them. But… My own mom was the reason that my dad was floated. And I hated my best friend for it and he let me. And then that same best friend forgave me when I found out the truth and in the same week killed himself because he thought that I was dead. I got lost and he killed himself. I killed him. And my mom killed my dad. She’s the reason he’s dead. I’m the reason Wells is dead. And I just… I would rather die than be the reason you get killed.” 

Clarke’s body shook with sobs and Raven, broken ankle and all rolled over and launched herself at the blonde, wrapping her arms tight around her. 

“I can’t be the reason you die. I can’t. You’re hurt because of me and it kills me. And it could have been so much worse. So much worse. You could have died.”

Between the tears and jagged breaths, Clarke’s words were all but unintelligible. But Raven could get the gist of them, and she slowly rocked the blonde in her arms back and forth until the sobs and broken words turned into sniffles and hiccups. The angle was awkward and caused a twinge in her hurt ankle, but she couldn’t bring herself to let her friend go. Her own tears fell silently into blonde hair. She should have guessed that it went beyond just her running from the safety of the dropship into potential danger to help Clarke. Raven may not have known the younger girl for long, but she could be blind and still not fail to see how big Clarke’s heart was. How strong of a leader the girl naturally was. And how much of the weight of responsibility she placed on herself for everything. For being the smartest person on earth, Raven felt like an idiot for not putting the pieces together to see how much blame and guilt Clarke carried that wasn’t hers to bear. Of course, she had somehow found a way to make the death of her childhood best friend her own fault. Her own mother was at fault for her father’s death, and though she was 18 now, Clarke was still young enough for that sort of trauma to make an impression. To shape the way she saw and processed other tragedies. 

Raven knew that their relationship was the strongest of any Clarke had formed since coming to the ground. Yes, she shared the burden of leadership with Bellamy. And yes, she had become closer with Monty and his friends, Jasper and Harper. But ever since Raven’s first night on the ground, the pair had been almost inseparable. Clarke had declared them to be each other’s family and that’s what they were. So of course, seeing the only family that she had left risk life and limb for Clarke had been triggering. Yeah, Raven felt like an idiot for not connecting the dots sooner. 

“Clarke?” 

The blonde sat up slightly, allowing Raven to shift back into a more comfortable position while still remaining close enough that the sides of both of their bodies were still pressed tightly together. 

“It’s not your fault. You didn’t kill Wells. His death was his own choice. You’re not your mother. She made a conscious choice that led to your father being floated. You got lost on a planet no one even knew was habitable and Wells made his own decision. The two are nowhere near the same. Not even close.” 

Raven gently wiped the fresh tears that spilled down Clarke’s cheeks at her words. She waited until watery blue eyes met hers before continuing.

“You are my best friend. My family. And that means that I will risk myself to protect you. Just like you would do the same for me. But that doesn’t make either of us like your mother either. Yeah, I got a little hurt because I came back for you. And yeah, it could have been a whole lot worse. But what happened, or what could have happened, is not your fault. You are not to blame. You didn’t purposely make it happen. If you’re looking for someone or something to blame, try the motherfuckers in masks who attacked us. Try the stupid council and our idiot chancellor who sent you down here in the first place. You can blame any of them, but you can’t blame yourself. Got it?” 

Clarke took a shaky breath and nodded. 

“Nope, I wanna hear you say it. You can’t blame yourself, got it?” 

“Got it.” 

Raven grinned at the blonde for the first time in a week, and Clarke broke out into a smile of her own. She leaned forward and wrapped her friend in a hug. They sat like that, just holding each other, for a few long moments. Neither wanted to let go, but they finally did break apart. 

“I really am sorry. I meant what I said. My explanation isn’t an excuse for how I treated you.” 

“I know, and I forgive you.” 

“You do?”

“Well of course. I mean I kinda have to. Aside from being my best friend, you’re also my main source of entertainment on this godforsaken planet. It’s been incredibly dull without you.”

Raven laughed and swatted Clarke’s hand away as the blonde attempted to punch her. 

“Asshole.”

“Awe, I love you too, Princess.” 

Clarke rolled her eyes and shoved Raven away, smirking as she stood up. Raven mock glared at her from where she had dramatically fallen onto her sleeping bag. The sparkle was back in her brown eyes, and Clarke’s smirk stretched into a smile at the sight. 

“How about you stop milking your injury just to get a spot in this tin can and come back to our tent?”

“Miss sleeping with me every night, Clarkey?” Raven waggled her eyebrows at the blonde. 

“Yeah right, Reyes. You wish. I just am using you for the extra body heat. The nights are getting colder ya know.” 

“Oh, believe me, I know. I can always warm you up a little extra if you need. Survival 1-0-1. Naked cuddling.”

“In your dreams!”

“It is. Every night.” Raven winked. “Now help me up and grab my shit. If you’re gonna make me trek across camp on a bad leg the least you can do is be a gentlewoman and carry my crap while I hobble along.” 

Clarke rolled her eyes. She leaned down to grab Raven’s outstretched hand and pulled the girl to her feet. She then gathered the sleeping bag in her arms, slung the mechanic’s backpack over her shoulder, and chucked whatever contraption the girl had been tinkering with towards her. Raven caught it after a few juggles and gave Clarke an affronted glare as though she could not believe the girl had dared to so carelessly throw what was clearly a worldly treasure. Clarke just rolled her eyes again as she straightened up and started making her way towards the dropship door. She looked back over her shoulder and didn’t even try to fight her smile at the sight of Raven following just a few steps behind. 

“You better not be faking that limp just so that you can use it as an excuse to walk behind me and stare at my ass, Reyes.” 

“I don’t fake anything, Griffin.” 

Clarke turned away from the shit-eatting grin on her friend's face and pretended that it was just the chill of the outside air she’d just stepped into that brought a pink flush to her cheeks.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***NOTE***
> 
> This chapter contains medical procedures. I am not a doctor nor do I have any medical experience more than CLS (Combat Life-Saver). For those who do have medical knowledge, I am sure that some of what I wrote is not realistic or accurate. I 100% blame the fact that I binged some Grey's Anatomy prior to writing on how this chapter progressed. Please forgive any inaccuracies and just roll with it! I hope you all enjoy!

“Monty, for the last time, please stop trying to find a plant or root that will get us all high. We need to focus on things we can actually eat that will get us through the winter.” 

The shaggy-haired boy gave Clarke a guilty grin before nodding and ducking around a tree to continue searching for edible vegetation. The blonde shook her head knowing that even if she gave him another ten stern warnings he would still wind up gathering anything he saw that he thought would give them a good trip. 

Another week had passed since the attack. Things had been quiet, with no new threats made against the camp from grounders or by whoever the masked people were. With each day being colder than the last, Clarke and Bellamy had agreed that their top priority right now had to be finding rations they could stockpile. That meant having groups of hunters and gathers daring to not only leave the confines of the camp walls but going further out into the surrounding forest than they had previously risked. Neither young leader liked it, but both recognized that it wouldn’t matter who attacked them next if their group was all half-dead from starvation. And though neither of them pressed the issue with the other, Clarke and Bellamy also each had a personal motive weighing in on their decision to send groups out.

For the eldest Blake, he was intent on fully taking advantage of their need to explore further from camp in the hopes of finding some trace of his sister. The odds that Octavia would suddenly be found were slim and he knew that, but that wasn’t going to stop Bellamy from searching for even the smallest sign that she was still alive and out there. The need for food was what drove him to agree to allowing groups of the remaining 100 to venture out from the slight safety their walls offered them. But his personal desire to not give up on Octavia was what had him leading each and every hunting party that went out. After all, she was his sister and therefore his responsibility. 

Clarke, in turn, took charge of leading every group that went out in scavenging. And like her co-leader, she too had a personal drive behind her desire to be out searching the forest. Whereas Bellamy was still focused on finding just one person, Clarke was determined to unearth any clue as to where the 33 of their group had been taken. The brief search that had been conducted while she had still been unconscious had only gone as far as the river. Once the tracks had been lost nothing further had been explored. But now that their need for rations had increased with winter creeping ever closer, she was given the opportunity to search farther and wider than ever before for the missing teens. Of course, collecting anything that would help them survive was the priority on each trip, but she still was able to look for any signs of vehicles or human life. 

Clarke also was using the expeditions as a chance to gain more familiarity in general with their surroundings. Each time she went out with a group, she brought along the map that they’d been sent down with. Using all the land navigation skills she could remember from her time in Earth Studies up on the Ark, Clarke had added detailed markings and routes to the map. There were still so many unknowns in the world around them, but she was at least starting to get a strong bearing on navigating it.

The blonde was also gaining a new level of perception. Up on the Ark paying close attention to one’s surroundings wasn’t a necessity. Extreme attention to detail was only required in medbay when helping her mother. But now that Clarke was down on the ground, she found herself slowly learning to hone her senses. It felt like so long ago that she had been standing in the clearing while her friends gathered rations, much like they were now. Really it had only been a few weeks since that day, but the memory of her hair standing up on edge as Raven told her they were being watched was fresh. At that time, she hadn’t been able to detect anything that would confirm Raven’s suspicions. That feeling of helplessness and not knowing was one that did not sit well with Clarke. So she worked to constantly be trying to see, hear, and even smell anything out of place. By no means had she developed some sort of super tracker skills, but she knew that she was getting better. 

She’d been out with a gathering team every day for the past four days, and she’d spent every one of them making sure to pay attention to every little detail. Which was why the branches of a tree about one hundred yards away shifting slightly caught her attention. There was hardly any wind today, barely a breeze. None of the other trees had swayed. The back of her neck seemed to prickle. She had no way to prove it, other than what her own gut was telling her, but Clarke knew that her group was being watched. 

Part of her wanted to find a way to alert the others that they needed to go back to camp, but everyone would be suspicious. They’d barely been gone for two hours. And the other part of her wanted to wait and see if anything would actually happen. The grounders had not mounted any sort of attack against their group in weeks. And Clarke was certain it was the grounders watching and not the masked group because whoever was observing them was doing so from a tree. Classic grounder tactics. The young leader never wanted to make a conscious choice that would put her people at risk, but as she weighed her options, it became clear that trying to leave and triggering a mass panic would probably be more dangerous than just continuing on with their gathering. 

Clarke turned her body away so it wasn’t directly facing the tree that she believed was hiding a grounder. She did her best to be as subtle as possible. She wanted to keep eyes on it just in case, but she also didn’t want to alert whoever was watching that she had noticed. It was such a thin line to try to walk and the blonde could feel her heart racing. Using every technique she knew, Clarke did her best to steady her breathing and calm down. Having her blood rushing in her ears would not make hearing anything out of place any easier. She scanned the forest around her and made sure that she had eyes on everyone in the group. 

Monty, Chloe, Sam, Murphy, Kyle, Megan, and Alex. 

With everyone accounted for, Clarke was able to let out a deep breath. That split second of calm was shattered by Sam’s yell of alarm. 

Clarke sprinted over to where the younger boy was kneeling next to Monty. The pair had been pulling some sort of berries from a bush. The rest of the group circled around them. Clarke dropped down next to Sam and did a visual sweep of Monty. 

The boy had tears spilling out of his wide, panicked eyes. He was trying to gasp for breath but it was like his throat was closing up. 

“What did he eat?” Clarke may have been seized internally with panic, but her voice was steady and clear.

“No- nothing. He didn’t eat anything.” Sam’s voice quivered and tears were threatening to leak out the corners of his eyes. 

“Are you absolutely sure?” 

“Yes, yes. He hadn’t eaten anything since you told him to stop trying to get high.” 

Clarke’s mind was spinning. He seemed to be suffering some sort of attack or allergy. But if he hadn’t ingested anything, then what could be causing it? All her years in medical with her mother couldn’t help her here. Causes for this sort of reaction were limited to food allergies when you lived in a tin can in space. 

Monty’s eyes began to roll backward. He wasn’t getting any air and if Clarke didn’t do something now, he was going to die. Ripping her backpack off her back she began digging for something she could use to puncture his throat and get him airflow. 

“Sam, I need you to search his body. Hands, arms, legs. Look for any sort of tear in his clothing with a scratch, puncture, or bite mark on the skin.” Clarke felt her hand close around a pen at the very bottom of her bag. It had been out of ink after the first week. It would have to do. 

The blonde glanced at the group gathered around watching. Everyone had varying expressions of shock and horror on their faces. Everyone but Murphy, of course. 

“Murphy. Get down here and open up your canteen.” 

The authority the blonde spoke with had the boy only pausing for a moment before complying. 

“Dump the water over the tube of the pen, my knife, and my hands.” 

Murphy did as he was asked. Clarke went to pull her hands back, but he gripped her wrist and pulled a flask out of his back pocket. 

“Alcohol cleans better than water, right? It’s some of Monty’s moonshine.” 

Clarke nodded and Murphy doused her hands in the foul-smelling liquid. Neither of them made mention of the slight shake to Clarke’s hands. 

“Alright, now I need you to hold his head steady between your knees and grip his shoulders tightly. Don’t let him move, Murphy.” 

The boy nodded and positioned himself. Monty was no longer moving. Clarke knew they were running out of time. She gripped the handle of her knife tightly and began her incision. She had never performed this emergency procedure before, and she’d only seen her mom do it a handful of times. It was an extreme last resort up on the Ark where there were countless options in medbay. Down here, this was Clarke’s only option. 

She finished the cut and pushed the tube of the pen into the wound. There was so much blood. She worried for a moment that she’d nicked an artery and sped up the boy’s death. But then the gentle whistle of airflow could be heard. Monty’s chest raised as his lungs inflated. His face slowly returned to its normal color. But the boy didn’t wake, and as Clarke checked his wrist for a pulse, she felt that it was still racing. 

“Clarke!” 

The blonde jumped. She’d tuned out everything around her and now sound came rushing back. Chloe was throwing up a few yards away in a bush as Megan held back her hair. Murphy was still holding Monty tight, his face whiter than a ghost. And Sam was looking at Monty’s leg in shock and horror. 

“What is it, Sam?” 

The boy didn’t answer. Clarke looked at Murphy meaningfully and then back at her hand that was holding the pen in place in Monty’s throat. Murphy swallowed hard, somehow paling even further, before nodding. He released one of the younger boy’s shoulders to replace Clarke’s hand with his own. Clarke moved down to look at what Sam had found and felt her stomach drop. 

Something had stung Monty. The stinger was still buried deep in his leg. It stuck out a good inch and was bright blue. The skin around the wound was a deep purple with spirals of black spreading out from it. Poison. 

Once again, Clarke felt out of her depth. There was nothing on the Ark that was poisonous, let alone creatures that went around stinging people. But this was the ground and there were probably a million different things that could kill them at any time. The blonde may not have any experience, but she knew the basics of medicine. Everything about this wound said that the poison was spreading and was going to kill Monty, whether he was getting air in his lungs or not. So Clarke acted on instinct. 

Sam flung himself out of the way and Clarke moved to straddle Monty’s upper thigh. Using her own weight and legs to brace him to keep the leg still, she used her knife to cut away his pants up to his knee. Grasping the stinger firmly, she pulled it free at the same angle it appeared to have entered the leg. That would stop any more poison from entering the bloodstream, but there was certainly already some in Monty if the spider web-looking, black threads under his skin were anything to go by. Cursing under her breath, Clarke saw only one option. If Monty lived he may very well wish he hadn’t because once he was conscious, she was sure what she was about to do was going to hurt like a bitch. 

“Sam, go help Murphy brace him. If he wakes up, I can’t have him moving. Especially with the pen still providing him with air.” 

Clarke looked up to see who was still present around her. Kyle looked a little green, but his gaze had not wavered. 

“Kyle, pin down his other leg and keep as much pressure on his hips as you can.” 

The red-haired boy didn’t hesitate or question, he just dropped to the ground next to Clarke and did as she instructed. Once he was in place, Clarke turned her focus back to Monty’s leg. The black was slowly spreading higher; it was almost to his knee. Now or never.

Clarke used her knife to make a long cut into the more meaty portion of Monty’s calf. The area was swollen from whatever poison had entered him, and blood immediately began to pour from the wound. Clarke focused on pushing at the areas where she could visually see the effects of the poison, trying to force it to exit his system with the blood from the cut she’d made. It was a balancing act; she couldn’t allow him to lose too much blood, but she had to make sure that the poison was out. 

Thankfully, whatever foreign substance had entered him maintained its black hue when it met the oxidized air, meaning that Clarke could see it when it began to flow out with the blood. Monty had regained some level of consciousness and was moaning loudly while the three boys assisting Clarke held him still. The blonde heard him and felt his movements, but it was as if she was just subconsciously noting him. Hearing him make noises was a positive sign that his throat may be opening back up as the poison left his system. But her main focus remained on his leg, her gaze never wavering. The sounds of Chloe continuing to throw up and one of the others swearing softly didn’t even register for Clarke. For all her practice at being perceptive and aware of her surroundings, everything ceased to exist except her patient when she was in the doctor zone. 

Clarke didn’t know how long she let Monty’s leg bleed. It could have been less than sixty seconds or it could have been hours. She wasn’t aware of time passing, she just focused on the volume of blood that was coming out with the poison, making sure that it wasn’t too much. Eventually, she saw no more black, and the bleeding had begun to slow. Monty’s moans became sharper to her ears, but she noticed that the boy was at least no longer attempting to thrash beneath her. 

“Kyle, go in my pack and grab the mini medkit. I need bandages and my hands are a mess.” 

Once more the younger boy did as asked. Clarke dumped some water on her hands and Monty’s leg to wash away excess blood before bandaging the cut tightly. She then turned to meet Monty’s terrified gaze. 

“Hey there. You’re alright. I know you’re scared and everything probably hurts a lot right now, but I need you to try to lay still for me. I had to make a tiny hole in your neck to help get some air to your lungs, and right now that hole is still open. So I need you to not move, okay?” 

Clarke’s voice had gone from steady and authoritative to gentle and kind. One tone while being the doctor and another for talking to the patient. Sounding calm sometimes did more than the actual words being said did. Monty gave the smallest of nods at Clarke’s words and she smiled at him. 

“You really are gonna be okay. Something stung you and your body had a pretty severe reaction to the toxin. But good news is that we got you breathing and I got the toxin out. You’re gonna be pretty sore and may not be able to talk too well for a bit, but it’s nothing that won’t heal. And most importantly, you’re going to live.” 

Despite the tremendous amount of pain that he must have been feeling, and the pen still jutting out of his throat, Monty managed a weak smile that reached his watery eyes. Clarke let out a small sigh of relief before turning away from his gaze. He didn’t need to see it as her composure slipped. The first aid kit she carried in her bag was a smaller version of the large one in her tent at the camp. She needed all the supplies she had available to her if she was gonna stitch up both of the wounds she’d given Monty while trying to save him. There was no way that the group could get him safely back to the camp in his current state. So she’d have to send a runner. Clarke stood and faced the group of kids huddled around her. 

“Alright. Monty is going to be okay. But I do need to stitch up his wounds and soon because of the risk of infection. However, we can’t move him, and the stuff I need is in the main med kit back at camp. So here’s the plan. Murphy, you’re with me. We’re gonna stay right here with Monty. Chloe and Megan, you gather up everything we’ve collected so far and bring it back to camp. As much as you can carry. Today may have taken a crazy turn, but the objective hasn’t changed. We need those rations. Alex, you act as a lookout for them and help carry what you can as well. Make sure all three of you make it safely back to camp. Sam and Kyle, I need you to run, as fast as you possibly can, back to camp. Get my kit. Get more moonshine as well, if you can. Then get back here and bring back extra hands. Strong hands. Got it?” 

Everyone seemed to stare at Clarke in shock. Clarke raised an eyebrow after a moment of silence. Murphy coughed like he was trying to cover a laugh. Everyone else finally moved, taking off in different directions with mumbled affirmatives. Clarke turned to give Murphy a questioning look and the normally broody teen smirked in return. 

“You totally just traumatized them all and definitely gave them some whiplash.” 

“Excuse me, what?” 

Murphy actually laughed, something Clarke had never heard him do. He was careful to not jostle the pen he was still stabilizing, but the rest of his body shook with humor at the affronted expression the blonde wore. 

“You may have been acting as their leader for a bit now, Princess, but they’ve never actually seen you go full ‘in charge’ mode. You went from escorting a gathering group to bloody, bossy doctor real quick, and then you acted like it was nothing. Just barked out orders on who was gonna do what.” 

Clarke rolled her eyes at the boy’s depiction of what had just unfolded, but she couldn’t deny that he was right. She’d just performed medical procedures, that would probably be considered emergency trauma surgery, in the middle of the damn forest. Monty was lying on the ground with a gash in his leg and a pen in his throat, and it was all her doing. Of course, she’d only done what she had to do to save him, but now that the adrenaline was fading, the reality of her actions hit her. Stumbling to her feet, Clarke moved away from the two boys and promptly hurled her guts up into the closest bush. 

After rinsing her mouth out repeatedly, and then using some more water on her hands to try to get off Monty’s blood that was still staining them, Clarke knelt back down beside Murphy. 

“You all good?”

Clarke nodded once. She appreciated that Murphy didn’t push her on it. Raven or Bellamy would probably be freaking out right now, but the boy beside her just accepted the answer. He was someone Clarke had judged to be potentially dangerous. A loose cannon, always sulking around with a chip on his shoulder that made him constantly angry enough to burst at any moment. She’d noticed that for however hard she judged him to be, Murphy was always choosing to join the gathering group rather than tag along with the hunters and their makeshift weapons. And today he had done exactly what she’d asked of him and hadn’t waivered once in helping her to save Monty. Perhaps, Clarke thought to herself as she studied the boy, she had judged him too soon. 

“So now what?” 

“Now we wait for our friends to come back with the supplies I need to make sure Monty is stabilized enough to move.” 

Clarke looked down and gave the boy in question a small smile. He tried to return it, but his eyes were drooping with exhaustion. She carefully checked his pulse and was happy to find that it had slowed down to a more normal rate and was strong. He was out of the woods for now and letting him rest was probably best. 

“Good. So we’ll just sit here, holding a pen in a dude’s throat, and hope that whatever stung him doesn’t come back for us. And that no masked assholes or grounders decide to make an appearance.” 

Clarke gave Murphy a disapproving look at his words. Monty may be fading, but hearing such things would only panic the boy and that wasn’t something any of them needed. 

“I doubt whatever stung him is coming back. Its stinger broke off in his leg, so even if it was still around, I don’t know it would be able to do much of anything without it.” 

Clarke chose not address the second portion of Murphy’s statement, but his words reminded her that before all the chaos broke out, she was certain that they were being watched. If the grounders were still around, now would be an optimal time for them to attack, if that was their goal. Monty couldn’t move and Clarke had only her knife. She wasn’t sure if Murphy had anything else on him that could be used as a weapon, but even if he did, their odds wouldn’t be great against a grounder. She scanned the trees surrounding them, but there was no sign of anyone. Rather than worry about the potential for a fight they wouldn’t win, Clarke turned her attention back to her company. 

Monty’s eyes were now closed fully. She wasn’t sure if he was asleep or passed out. Judging by the fact that he didn’t stir as she gently probed at his neck, she went with the latter. Any swelling that he’d had in his throat seemed to have reduced enough that the pen was probably doing more harm than good at this point. She didn’t need him getting some sort of infection. Turning back to her mini aid kit, Clarke pulled out some gauze and her last length of bandages. 

“Alright Murphy, I’m gonna have you pull the pen out in a moment. He should be fine to breathe without it, and I’d rather pack and wrap the wound than leave it in until I have what I need for stitches.” 

“You really going to be able to stitch closed a gaping hole in the kid’s throat?” 

“It is not a gaping hole, it’s a small incision. I’ll bandage it for now to prevent anything from being able to enter the wound. Mostly it’ll heal by itself, but I can stitch the skin closed to help it heal faster.” 

“Whatever you say, Doc. Just tell me when to pull the pen out.” 

Clarke laid out the wrap and bandages on Monty’s chest. She carefully wet some gauze and did her best to clean around the incision site. Once she was ready, the blonde looked up at Murphy, nodding once. He carefully pulled the pen out, and Clarke immediately covered the wound, beginning to dress it the best she could with the supplies she had left. Monty thankfully didn’t stir throughout the whole process. 

Clarke let out a sigh as she finished and wiped her hands on the grass. Murphy did the same with his own, but the red tint still remained. The pair sat in silence. Clarke watched the steady rise and fall of Monty’s chest, grateful that he was indeed able to breathe on his own. Murphy leaned back on his arms and stared up at the sky. 

The sun had breached its high point and was beginning its downward descent, signaling that the early afternoon hours had found them. Normally, Clarke would find it strange to sit beside someone and not speak, but for some reason, it felt comfortable with Murphy. She didn’t know the boy’s story, and before today they’d barely exchanged a few words, but after all the chaos they’d just endured, she was grateful to just have him sitting quietly next to her.


	8. Chapter 8

The sound of feet pounding on the forest floor broke the quiet that Clarke and Murphy had been sharing. Monty was still passed out between them. 

“Calvary's coming.” 

The corners of Clarke’s lips twitched upwards at the broody boy’s fake enthusiastic tone. She pushed herself to her feet and turned toward where she could hear the incoming group approaching. There was no doubt in her mind that it was their friends headed their way. Grounders could somehow move through the forest in complete silence. 

“Clarke?!” 

Bellamy’s voice reached her a few seconds before the boy appeared between the trees. He was breathing hard as he slowed to a stop in front of her. Dirt streaks stained his skin and there were leaves and twigs tangled in his shaggy brown hair from sprinting through the forest. Sam and Kyle appeared behind Bellamy. They were both panting as well after having made the trip twice in such a short time. Two more boys that Clarke recognized as Thomas and Charlie also joined the group. She didn’t know them personally. They generally joined the hunting parties with Bellamy. 

“Clarke, what happened?” 

Clarke turned her attention back to Bellamy. His eyes were wide and worried. He scanned her whole appearance as if checking to make sure she was really okay. The blood staining her hands and clothes probably wasn’t the most reassuring sight. 

“Monty got a little banged up, but he’s gonna be okay.” 

Murphy’s attempt to mask his laugh as a cough drew the older boy’s attention to him. 

“You think something’s funny?” 

Clarke sighed as Murphy smirked at Bellamy glaring at him. The two always seemed one wrong word away from a physical altercation. 

“I do actually. Princess here basically performed surgery in the middle of the freaking woods in order to keep the plant-boy alive, and then the first explanation she gives is that he just got a little banged up. I find that funny.” 

Bellamy was ready to fire back in an attempt to wipe the ever-present smirk from Murphy’s face, but it seemed like his actual words sunk in before he got the chance. His face dropped and he turned back to Clarke before finally looking down at Monty for the first time since arriving. His tone softened.

“What happened?” 

“He got stung by something. There was some sort of venom or poison coating the stinger. His throat was closing up, I had to get him an airway. Once he was getting oxygen, I had to get the stinger out and drain the poison from his bloodstream before it reached his heart. He’s stable now. Just needs some stitches, water and lots of rest.” 

Bellamy let out a shaky breath as Clarke spoke. Since the 100 had landed on the ground it had been a constant fight for survival. Finding food and water, staying warm with fires, creating a camp, and trying to not be killed by various locals. Danger was nothing new, but now they had deadly wildlife to worry about as well. Stinging, venomous wildlife. The eldest Blake was doing all he could to keep everyone safe, but it seemed like there was always something coming at them from all sides. 

“Did you bring my medkit?” 

Kyle stepped forward and held it out to the blonde. She smiled at him in thanks before dropping to the ground next to Monty. Sam joined Clarke by the boy’s side.

“I brought more moonshine too.” 

He handed the bottle to Clarke. Murphy took his place at Monty’s head, ready to brace him should he wake up once Clake started working on him again. Bellamy remained standing, looking on helplessly but not sure what to do. Clarke glanced up at him, reading his posture and facial expression. 

“Hey Bell, can you take Kyle, Thomas, and Charlie and put together some sort of stretcher? We’re gonna need to carry Monty back to camp once I get him patched up.” 

“Sure thing, Princess.” 

Clarke focused back on the task at hand. She opened up the medkit and pulled out everything she would need to stitch the cut she’d made in Monty’s leg and rebandage the incision in his neck. 

“Sam, can you open the moonshine and dump it over my hands? Not all of it, but enough to coat them.” 

The young boy did as asked. His hands didn’t shake and he seemed keen to help however he could. Clarke studied him. Perhaps she should consider taking him on as an apprentice of sorts. If not him, then someone else who was interested. The group should have someone besides her that they could depend on to patch up injuries. 

“Alright, here’s the plan. I’m gonna start with his leg. I’ll unwrap the bandage, disinfect with moonshine, and then stitch him up. Murphy, you’re gonna need to hold his shoulders down. Sam, you’re gonna pin his lower half. The alcohol is gonna sting. A lot. And if he’s still conscious when I start stitching… well let's try to save a few gulps of the moonshine for him.” 

Both boys nodded. Clarke had slipped into doctor mode seamlessly once more. Working in tandem, the best they could, the group got to work. Monty indeed woke up once Clarke started the disinfection process. Murphy shoved a spare bit of gauze in his mouth to muffle his screams. Once the stitches were in, Clarke rebandaged his leg and moved onto his neck. She couldn’t stitch the skin closed yet. The internal tear had to heal a bit before then. She stuck to cleaning around the edges and rebandaging with her better supplies. By the time she was done, Monty was fading once more. She managed to tip some water down his throat before he passed out again. 

Bellamy and the others had successfully put together a makeshift stretcher while Clarke had been working. Unfortunately, it was a task that the group had mastered fairly quickly since arriving on the ground. Under Clarke’s watchful eyes the boys managed to gently move Monty onto it. The trip back to camp took twice as long as it normally would, but the group made it safely. 

As soon as they were through the gate, Clarke found herself immediately engulfed by Raven. The brunette wrapped her arms around the blonde tightly and buried her face in her friend’s neck. Clarke could feel the slight tremor in the older girl’s body and knew she must have been losing her mind with worry the entire time the group was gone. She had no doubt that when Sam and Kyle raced in searching for medical supplies and help, Raven must have been infuriated that her ankle prevented her from coming back with them. Clarke returned the embrace, running her hand through tangled locks and providing reassurance that she was okay. The hug ended abruptly when Raven pulled back and shoved Clarke away. 

“What the hell, Clarke? What happened? You’re covered in blood! Why are you covered in blood?” 

Clarke fought to keep from smiling. It wasn’t so long ago when she was the one pushing Raven away and yelling at her for scaring her. She reached out and pulled the girl back into her arms, holding her in another hug and not letting go when Raven tried to break away. 

“I’m alright, Reyes. Take it down a level. The blood’s not mine. Monty got stung by something and had a reaction. I had to go all doctor on his ass and save his life like the badass I am. It’s all good.” 

Clarke felt the tension bleed out of Raven as her body shook with laughter at the blonde’s words. Humor was normally Raven’s preferred method of coping and Clarke had learned that throwing it back at the girl seemed to help calm her down. The trick had been working wonders when it came to keeping the headstrong brunette from overdoing it as her ankle still worked to heal. 

The pair broke apart and Raven studied Clarke’s face for a long moment. Whatever she saw must have convinced her that her best friend really was okay because she broke out into a grin. 

“Oh, so you’re the badass now? Pssh, I saw that stretcher the boys carried Monty in on. If I had been there maybe the poor boy wouldn’t have had to suffer through such an uncomfortable and bumpy ride.”

Clarke laughed as she pushed past the mechanic and headed towards the dropship where Monty had been taken to rest. Raven fell into step beside her. 

“Don’t think I didn’t notice that you were running when you came over to attack me and freak out. You’re supposed to be staying off your leg as much as possible, Raven.” 

“Yeah, yeah. It’s fine. Doesn’t even hurt anymore.”

“Just because it isn’t throbbing and barely holding your weight anymore doesn’t mean it’s fine. And I know it still hurts because every night I still have to help you take your boot off. Go tend to the fire by our tent, Reyes. Sit your ass down and I’ll be over once I’m done checking on Monty.” 

“Jeesh, you are so bossy. Tell Monty I said thank you for almost dying but not actually dying. Now you can focus on hovering and telling him what to do. It’ll be a nice break for me.” 

“Yeah right. I give it 12 hours before you get so jealous that you get yourself hurt again just to win back my attention.” 

“In your dreams, Princess!” 

The two parted ways, both grinning like idiots. Clarke made her way into the dropship while Raven headed over to their tent. Despite the amount of sass she gave Clarke, the brunette did try to listen to her orders most of the time. Her ankle still tinged whenever she was up on it for too long even with the brace on and she knew it wasn’t even close to back to normal yet. 

Inside the dropship, Clarke found Bellamy still with Monty. The boy was still on the makeshift stretcher. 

“Hey Princess, I didn’t know where’d you want him or what would be best so I figured I’d wait to hear your orders.” 

“Good call, Bell. We can’t put him in a hammock because we need to try to keep his head and neck flat. Let’s make up a bed with some blankets on the ground.” 

“You got it, Doc.” 

Clarke rolled her eyes as the older boy moved to gather up as many spare blankets as he could. Bellamy really was different these days. He wasn’t making so many rash decisions and he seemed to genuinely be trying to work with her. It was a pleasant change. Clarke was finding herself more and more grateful each day to have him by her side. She couldn’t serve as a leader to the camp alone and now that he seemed to be acting with a more level head, he was truly a great counterpart to her. She trusted him to take care of their people. 

They worked together to create a somewhat comfortable bed for Monty. Bellamy rounded up some others to help him move the boy onto it once it was complete. Clarke managed to get the injured boy to drink some more water and take a few bites of a stew that had been prepared for the camp’s dinner. She checked him for a fever and made sure all his bandages were still secure. Satisfied that he was alright, she let him fall back asleep. Sam had joined them, promising to sit with him for the night and wake Clarke if anything happened. 

Bellamy joined Clarke as she left the dropship. She had planned on just going back to her tent and Raven, but the older boy made a compelling argument. 

“Come eat something, Clarke.” 

“I’m really not that hungry.” 

“That’s just the leftover adrenaline and exhaustion talking. You’ve had a long day and probably haven’t had more than the handful of berries I saw you eat before you left this morning. You need to eat, Princess.” 

“Adrenaline and exhaustion, huh? I thought I was supposed to be the doctor.” 

“What can I say, I’ve picked up a thing or two with you always bossing people around.” 

“I do not boss!” 

Bellamy laughed loudly at Clarke’s exclamation and accompanying facial expression. 

“Whatever you say, Princess. Let’s just go eat something.” 

Clarke mumbled under her breath, but allowed him to sling an arm over her shoulder and lead them towards the camp’s designated food area. Everyone took turns on ‘kitchen’ duty. Whatever food was gathered and hunted, that wasn’t being set aside for the winter, was prepared by the day’s kitchen duty group. Tonight there was the stew that Clarke had given to Monty and some strips of cooked meat. Bellamy handed Clarke a portion for each of them before grabbing two cups of moonshine and leading them to the makeshift tables the group had set up for eating at.

“Hey, I let you drag me over here for food. What makes you think that means I’m gonna sit with you and have a drink?” 

“You’re sitting with me because we have important things to discuss with winter just about being here. And we’re drinking because you saved Monty’s life today and you deserve a proper toast for that. We can’t toast your heroicness with water.” 

Clarke felt her cheeks turn slightly pink at his words. 

“I’m not a hero. I’m just the one with some medical experience.” 

“Sam filled me in on exactly what you did, Clarke. Sounded pretty heroic to me. Now stop arguing! Sit down and eat. This stew isn’t going to taste any better cold.” 

Clarke rolled her eyes but sat down across from the older boy nonetheless. He waited, watching her swallow the first bite. A grin broke across his face at her moan.

“Told you you were hungry.” 

Clarke stuck her tongue out at him but didn’t bother with a retort. Bellamy was right. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until she actually ate. Now her stomach demanded more and she happily continued to shovel in the meal. Bellamy chuckled once more before digging into his own dinner. They ate in silence until they both had finished their stew. 

“Alright, now that you’re not gonna die of starvation it’s time for a toast and then we can talk business while we struggle to chew this tough crap we’re calling meat.” 

Bellamy lifted his cup up and stared Clarke down with a raised eyebrow until she did the same with a huff.

“To you, Princess. Our very own medical miracle worker. Monty wouldn’t be here resting comfortably if it weren’t for you. A lot of us wouldn’t still be here if it weren’t for you.” 

Clarke bumped her cup with his. She knew that his words held a double meaning. If she hadn’t forced him to think logically and see the bigger picture, he would have left camp weeks ago to go after Octavia. She nodded, accepting his words, before taking a swallow of the drink. She immediately coughed at the burn in her throat which got another laugh out of the older boy. His lopsided smile was making more appearances lately, especially when he was around Clarke. 

“Alright. So you’ve gotten me to eat and drink to myself, now what’s this important stuff we need to talk about?” 

Bellamy’s smile faltered. He shifted his gaze to his plate, picking up his strip of meat and slowly tearing it into smaller pieces. Clarke slowly lowered her cup back to the table. Blue eyes narrowed as the demeanor of the boy across from her drastically changed. 

“Bellamy…” 

The older boy sighed heavily before looking back up at Clarke. 

“Okay. Just promise you won’t be mad that I haven’t said anything until now. I mean, I know you’re gonna be a little mad, but just keep in mind that everything that happened with Monty definitely had to come first.” 

“What happened?” 

“Okay, so,” Bellamy took a deep breath, “I led another hunting party today, as you know. And we pushed out further than we have before because it’s getting harder and harder to find game. So we were up the river quite a ways.” 

“Wait,” Clarke interrupted, “Is this why you were already back at camp when Sam and Kyle came for help? Because you don’t normally beat the gathering group back.” 

“Yeah, we ended up coming back early. Still got three deer though, so no worries that we aren’t pulling our weight in the rush to stockpile for winter.” 

Clarke rolled her eyes and nodded for Bellamy to get on with it. 

“Anyways, we were in new territory. And we stumbled across what I can only describe as the sight of some sort of fight. There was blood staining the ground. A broken spear, like the ones the grounders use, and this.” 

Bellamy reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out a dart. The same type of dart that Raven had been hit in the leg with. Her eyes widened as she looked from the dart to the boy holding it. 

“The masked attackers?” 

“Looks like it. We fanned out and searched for tracks, but didn’t find anything. My best guess is the people who attacked us also got into it with some grounders. There was no way to tell whose blood was on the ground, but based on the broken spear and the fact that there were no bodies left behind, I think it’s safe to assume that the masked attackers took the grounders. Just like they took our people.” 

“You’re sure there were no tracks? Do you remember exactly where you were when you found this? Could you get back there?” 

“Slow down, Clarke.” 

“No Bellamy! This is the first time since the attack that we’ve found anything that even proves that the masked attackers exist! We need to go back! I need to go back! Maybe you missed something. A track or trace or something, anything, that could lead us to wherever they took our people!” 

Clarke’s voice was getting progressively louder and somewhere along the way she’d stood from her seat at the table without realizing it. Bellamy reached across and tugged on her jacket sleeve, pulling her back down onto her chair. 

“Keep your voice down, Princess. I haven’t told anyone what we found. I instructed those in the hunting party to keep it to themselves for now. Until you and I could talk and figure out our next moves.” 

Some of the tension drained from Clarke’s body. Her muscles loosened and she took a deep breath. She glanced around, but no one seemed to be paying them any mind. Looking back at Bellamy, she let out another breath and nodded.

“I knew you would want to go back there. I made sure to pay close attention to our route on the way back so I know the way. But Clarke, I don’t know that we should! And before you start yelling again just hear me out.” 

Blue eyes narrowed and Bellamy raised his hands up in defense. 

“Just think about it, Clarke! The grounders, from what we’ve experienced of them, know how to use their weapons. I talk a big game about wanting to defend ourselves, but we both know that if it came down to it they could probably wipe us out. And the masked attackers who got us, it looks like they got some of them too. Which means they’re even more dangerous, especially with this high-tech shit that can drop someone before they have the chance to fight back. If we stumbled upon someplace closer to wherever their territory is and we go back there, we could wind up being attacked all over again.” 

Clarke turned away from the older boy’s imploring gaze. She studied the camp and its occupants as more fires were lit and the sky grew darker. Bellamy had raised a fair point and she knew that, but it wasn’t going to be enough to change her mind. There was a chance that some clue had been overlooked by the hunting party. Something that could tell them where their friends had been taken. And if there was a chance, then Clarke had to at least try. She hadn’t given up hope on getting her people back yet and she wasn’t about to start now. 

Resolved, she turned back and met Bellamy’s eyes. The oldest Blake sighed and sat back in his seat. She didn’t need to say anything, he could already tell what her decision would be and nothing he could say was going to change her mind. 

“I hear what you’re saying, but it’s worth the risk. We’re not safe anywhere. The people who attacked us here still know we’re here. The grounders know we’re here. We’re the only ones who have no clue where our highly aggressive neighbors live. And we owe it to our missing friends to at least try to find some trace of where they’ve been taken. And if that means going back to the scene of a fight between the masked people and the grounders, then that’s what it means.” 

“I knew that would be your answer. I hoped I’d be able to change your mind, but I knew.” 

Clarke smiled. 

“For what it’s worth, it was a good effort. You used logic instead of emotion to make your argument. If this debate was about anything else, you might have actually stood a chance.” 

“Gee, thanks Princess. Don’t think I won’t keep that in mind for our future disagreements.” 

The pair laughed, breaking the last bit of tension that had crept in when Bellamy had started the conversation. Their laughter was cut short by an empty plate being dropped and clattering on the table between them. Both looked up to see Raven standing there.

The girl’s face was unreadable. Clarke immediately felt guilty. Since she’d left her friend to go check on Monty, quite some time had passed if the nearly dark sky was anything to go by. She had meant to get the injured boy situated and then join the mechanic back at their tent, but Bellamy had sidetracked her with food and then dropped the bomb about what had happened on his end of things today. Needless to say, she’d left her friend waiting for longer than she’d planned and if the mask of a facial expression was anything to go by, Raven wasn’t exactly pleased. 

“Hey Rae, did you already eat?” 

“Yeah, I did. And I gave the portion I’d grabbed for you to Sam, who’s sitting with Monty.” 

Clarke winced. Raven’s voice was flat and clipped. 

“Sorry I didn’t come find you sooner. Bell and I just had some stuff to talk over and he knew I hadn’t eaten since this morning so we figured we’d go over the stuff with some food.” 

“Right. Stuff. Well I’ll leave you guys to it.” 

Clarke looked at Bellamy with wide, pleading eyes as Raven turned and started to walk away. The older boy rolled his own before turning and raising his voice. 

“Reyes, you can join us. Might as well stay for a drink and the details since I know Clarke will tell you everything anyways.” 

The mechanic paused but didn’t turn around. Bellamy looked at Clarke who was staring at her friend’s back, but not moving. He sighed to himself, realizing that the blonde really was sometimes the dumbest smart person he knew. He reached across the table and nudged her causing her to break her gaze away from Raven. Once she was looking at him again he tilted his head towards the brunette and raised an eyebrow, waiting. It took Clarke only a moment to catch on. 

“Bell is right, Raven. I was already planning on telling you so why don’t you turn that ass around, grab a cup of this disgusting drink and join us.” 

As soon as Clarke extended the offer, Raven turned and made her way back to the table. Clarke let out a quiet sigh of relief and smiled her thanks at Bellamy. He just rolled his eyes once more and nodded, but the corners of his mouth twitched upward, returning her smile. 

Once Raven sat down, Clarke pushed her own still full cup of moonshine towards her. 

“You can have mine. That stuff is way too strong for me.” 

Raven smirked before picking up the cup and downing it in one go. She barely even flinched. Clarke’s jaw dropped and Bellamy let a low whistle. 

“Damn Reyes!” 

“What can I say, I’m a girl of many talents.” 

She followed up her statement with a wink at Clarke who still hadn’t managed to pick her jaw up off the ground. Bellamy laughed and reached across the table, using one finger under the blonde’s chin to gently force her mouth to close. Raven tensed slightly at the action and reached under the table to rest her hand on Clarke’s leg. The double whammy of physical contact seemed to shake the girl out of her daze and she grinned at her two friends. 

“Alright so back to business. Raven, we’re gonna loop you in but please just make sure to keep everything we discuss to yourself. This isn’t something we’re ready to make general camp knowledge yet.”

“Whatever you say, boss.” 

Bellamy leaned back in his seat, breaking contact with Clarke. Raven, however, left her hand resting on her friend’s leg. The blonde didn’t seem to mind so she wasn’t in any hurry to pull away. 

“Bellamy, why don’t you fill Raven in on what you found today.” 

The older boy nodded before turning to angle his body towards the brunette and recapping everything he had just told Clarke. Raven was more composed in her reaction to the news. Her brow furrowed as her mind took off, already trying to think ten steps ahead on what this would mean for the group. By the time Bellamy concluded, expressing his opinion that they should leave well enough alone, but that Clarke felt they should return as soon as possible to see if anything was missed, Raven was nodding. 

“Well, Clarke is right. There’s a chance something was overlooked that could be the opportunity we’ve been waiting for that will help us get our friends back.” 

Clarke’s hand suddenly gripped Raven’s under the table. She threaded their fingers together and squeezed, silently expressing her appreciation at the older girl backing her up. Raven had to work hard to control her facial expression and not react, but on the inside, she was grinning and fist-pumping like a fool. Bellamy may have gotten dinner with Clarke, but she was the one whose hand the blonde was now holding. 

Bellamy rolled his eyes at the mechanic’s words. He didn’t bother arguing since he’d already conceded to Clarke’s decision on the matter. He wasn’t surprised that Raven was of the same opinion. Part of him did wonder if she was agreeing because she really thought that Clarke had a point or just to be on her side and not his. It didn’t matter either way, but he was curious. He’d been trying to get a read on the girl for almost a week now, but he wasn’t sure whether or not her feelings for Clarke were more friendly, even familial, or if there was something more going there. The only person that he had a harder time figuring out other than Raven was Clarke herself. And maybe Murphy. 

“So we’ll go tomorrow then.”

Clarke’s eager exclamation shook Bellamy from his wandering thoughts. The light of the nearby flames dancing in her bright blue eyes and the excited smile on her face almost had him agreeing, but he forced himself to push logic to the forefront of his mind. It wasn’t always the most natural pattern of thinking for him, but he was working on it. 

“Slow down there, Princess. I think we should at least wait a few days.”

Clarke’s face fell at his words. Raven just raised her eyebrows, inviting him to continue. 

“Look, we don’t know exactly how many more days we’re going to have with weather that allows us to continue hunting and gathering. That needs to remain the priority. And I think if we’re gonna risk going back to an area of the forest we know holds a potential threat, that we should at least let some time pass between visits. Just to be on the safe side.” 

“He makes some valid points.” 

Clarke sighed. If Raven was agreeing with Bellamy then she knew she wouldn’t win. One of them on her side against the other she stood a chance on most things. Both of them against her though, those odds would never be in her favor. 

“Fine. We’ll wait, but not too long. Can’t have you forgetting how to get there, Blake.” 

“Hilarious, Princess.” Bellamy’s voice was flat but his lips curved upward.

“Sometimes the reality that we’re all being led by you two idiots is slightly terrifying.” 

“Hey!” 

Raven laughed at the look of indignation on Clarke’s face. The blonde huffed before rolling her eyes and matching her friend’s smile with one of her own. 

“Well if we’ve moved on to the part of the night where Raven starts throwing around insults, I think I’ll take my leave. You two enjoy the rest of your evening and try not to get into any trouble.” 

Bellamy stood up as he spoke. He threw back the remainder of his cup of moonshine with a grimace before giving each girl a nod. 

“Goodnight Bell!” 

“See ya, Blakey-boy.” 

He rolled his eyes at Raven and gave Clarke one more of his smiles that seemed to be reserved specifically for her before turning and making his way towards his tent. Raven watched as Clarke tracked him with her gaze for a moment before her blue eyes snapped over to meet her own. 

The two girls seemed to stare at each other for an unmeasurable span of time, not saying a word. The mechanic still had Clarke’s hand and she gave it a gentle squeeze. The corners of Clarke’s mouth twitched and she returned the pressure. Without speaking both girls stood. Raven reluctantly let their hands be pulled apart by the motion as they turned and collected the dishes from the table. After dropping them off in a tub filled with water, the pair made their way to their tent. As they passed the dropship Clarke slowed and studied the entry, but Raven reached over and looped her arm through the blonde’s. 

“Sam is still with Monty. He’ll come find you if anything happens. Let the kid rest, you can check on him tomorrow.” 

Clarke allowed Raven to pull her away. They made it to their tent and ducked inside. The events of the day seemed to finally have caught up with the young leader now that she’d eaten and had some time to process. An overwhelming level of exhaustion seemed to hit her out of nowhere, and Clarke collapsed gracelessly onto her bed with a groan. 

“You really should at least take your boots off.” 

Raven’s voice was filled with humor that was reflected in her face as she studied her friend’s now horizontal position. Clarke just buried her face further into her sleeping bag and mumbled something unintelligible, but clearly conveying that she had no intention of moving. 

“Alright Princess, jeesh. If you wanted me to help you take your clothes off all you had to do was ask. No need for the dramatics.” 

Clarke’s body shook with laughter. Raven stooped down and began to tug at the laces of the girl’s boots. Feeling the effort being made, the blonde let out another groan before rolling over enough to make the job slightly easier on her friend. 

“What’d you get up to today?” 

“Same old nothing. Sat around and rested my ankle. Helped with some of the preserving process for the shit you’ve been gathering for us.” Raven grinned in triumph as the first boot finally came loose. “It sucks hanging back while you get to go out and explore.” 

“Miss me too much?” 

“Pssh, no. Just sick of being trapped in these camp walls all the time.” 

“Well, that’s too bad. I thought if you’d just been missing me that I’d be making your day when I told you I was gonna have someone else lead the gathering missions for the next few days. But I guess if my company isn’t wanted I’ll just-”

“You’re hanging around here tomorrow?” The excitement in Raven’s voice as she cut off Clarke brought a huge grin to the blonde’s face. 

“Ha! I knew you missed me!” 

“Yeah, yeah almost as much as you missed me. Is that why you’re not going out tomorrow? Suffering from withdrawal? I know my sheer brilliance and beauty can be addicting.” 

“You’re a sheer pain in my ass. And no, as much as I’d love to pad your ego and give you credit as the reason, I am not going out tomorrow because I’m going to hold a class for anyone interested in learning some basic first aid.” 

“Why?”

“Because it would be a good idea to have some people other than myself who are at least somewhat competent in simple medical practices. The ground has proved itself to be dangerous in many ways at any given time and there is no guarantee that I’ll always be around when someone gets hurt.” 

“Makes sense, I suppose. You think anyone is actually gonna wanna attend this class of yours though?” 

“Are you doubting my ability to attract others?” 

“That question sounds like a trap,” Raven finally freed the other boot from Clarke’s foot and moved to sit on her own bed. “I just meant do you think anyone will be interested in wanting to learn that stuff? It’d be a shame if I was the only student in attendance.” 

Clarke smiled at Raven’s nonchalance in stating that she would be there supporting her. She sat up from her cot, moving to the edge directly across from the brunette and patted her knee. Already knowing the drill, Raven lifted her injured leg to rest her foot in Clarke’s lap. Every night her friend helped the mechanic to remove the brace and her boot before checking the healing progress and guiding her through some light strengthening movements. 

“I’m sure you’ll have company. Sam did really well today helping me with Monty and I think he’ll be eager to learn more. I also am planning on extending the invitation to Murphy.” 

“Murphy? As in most likely to be a homicidal maniac Murphy?” 

Clarke rolled her eyes. 

“Be nice. He’s actually not all that bad. He helped even more than Sam today and I dunno… I just have a feeling about him. Underneath all that anger and sarcasm I think there’s a good guy. I can’t explain it, but after today I trust him.” 

Raven stared at Clarke, eyebrows raised in disbelief. She seemed to wait a moment to see if this was actually some sort of joke. The genuine look on Clarke’s face was enough to back up her words. So Raven dropped the shocked expression in exchange for one of acceptance. 

“Well alright then. We trust Murphy now. Gotta admit, today did not play out the way I thought it would.”

“We’re on the ground now!” Clarke grinned at Raven, “I doubt we will ever have a day again where things will go as we plan or imagine.” 

“Touche’, Princess.” 

“You really need a better nickname for me.” 

“Oh do I now?” Raven gave Clarke a sly grin, “How about babe? No wait, sexypants! Hmm, nope. Oh! I got it! Future wifey!” 

Clarke gently pushed Raven’s leg off her lap with a laugh and shake of her head. She laid back on her bed and turned to watch as her friend did the same. The mechanic reached over to flick off the lantern that had been glowing between them, casting them into a darkness only broken by the shadows of the flames dancing from the fires outside. 

“Goodnight, Dork.” 

“Goodnight, Princess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***IMPORTANT***
> 
> I hope that you all enjoyed this week's update! 
> 
> I want to give you all a heads-up on future updates. My goal is still to post a new chapter each Sunday. However, life likes to throw curveballs every now and again, and I was just blessed with one. I am up for a promotion at work. I also am stepping into a temporary position as team lead rather unexpectedly. And of course, this is all happening in the midst of the holiday season. With all of this in mind, I am still going to be pushing myself to make time to write. However, I have learned to temper my optimism with a splash of realism, and for that reason, I can make no promises on as consistent of updates as I've been making up to this point. 
> 
> To be clear, I am NOT abandoning this story. I am NOT taking a hiatus or break from this story. I simply may not have as much time to write for the next few weeks, meaning I may not have a chapter set to be uploaded each and every Sunday. That being said, I will do my absolute best to make time for this story wherever I can, for both your sake and my own. 
> 
> Thank you in advance for your understanding and patience. I look forward to continuing this journey with you all and appreciate you sticking with me along the way. 
> 
> My love to you all,   
> -Iz


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